Search for Identity
by yrume
Summary: This fanfic is about several Akatsuki members at the age of 7/8 years, living in the same village and starting to attend the ninja academy there. OOC, fluff, shounen ai/yaoi - 17 chapters already finished, part 18 & 19 in progress. To be uploaded soon.
1. part 1: a future ninja

Itachi woke up as the first birds started to sing. He had never been woken up by them to this day – their tweeting and twittering used to be far too gentle. But today he hadn't slept as deeply as usual, as today was a special day.

The raven black haired boy turned around to take a look at the small wooden clock on the shelf near his bed. Yeesh, it really was early in the morning! Itachi nestled to his pillow and closed his eyes, trying to go on sleeping, but he wasn't able to. He was just too excited.

Today would be the first day at the academy for him. It seemed as if he had left kindergarten ages ago. He had learned how to write, to add and subtract, and he also knew a lot about the history of his village yet – but from now on he would be taught the really interesting things, rather how to become a shinobi, like his father and most members of his clan were. Itachi's heart started beating faster at the thought that he would learn how to attack and defend and how to use chakra. Maybe they even would be allowed to try out some weapons. Of course there were still a lot of boring subjects – arts, for example, which he hated, and even basic subjects like math. It didn't bother him much, though, as he was a very intelligent boy who was able to comprehend things pretty quickly, but he longed to learn what was really important to him.

He let his eyes wander across the bedroom and stopped at a silver object that was shining brightly in the morning sun. It was his father's forehead protector, a long black headband with a metal plate, in which a leaf was carved, the symbol of his village, Konoha.

Itachi sighed. How long would it take him until he was allowed to wear one of those? Usually, a kid was supposed to spend about five years in the academy before becoming a genin and getting a Konoha forehead protector. He really wanted to have one. Not because it looked nice, but because then he would be acknowledged as a real shinobi. And he could impress his little brother, Sasuke.

Said boy was sleeping next to him, breathing evenly, sometimes slightly twitching when dreaming. He was three years old, about five years younger than Itachi was. His hair had the same color as Itachi's, and his eyes were as dark as his. Nobody could have denied that they were brothers. Both of them were calm characters, but as Sasuke was still very shy and anxious when he was with other people, Itachi had overcome his shyness some years ago and had become rather self-confident, even if suspicious of other people from time to time.

Itachi stretched out his hand and poked his little brother's side. Sasuke winced, then whined, but remained asleep. Itachi giggled but didn't tease him a second time. He wanted his little brother to wake up, but he didn't want to fight with him today. If he woke him up, Sasuke surely would be upset and whiny, and Itachi didn't want that at all. He wanted this day to be good.

No matter how hard he tried, Itachi couldn't manage to fall asleep again. There were too many questions in his head. How many kids would there be in his class? Would there be someone he already knew? What would the teachers be like? Would they be real shinobi? And most important: What would he be taught…?

A high voice suddenly startled him out of his thoughts: "Oi, neesan, you excited?" Itachi looked at his younger brother who was rubbing his eyes and yawned. Itachi wondered about how well Sasuke remembered what was going to happen today shortly after waking up.

"Excited", Itachi repeated, "yes, I think I am. And you?" Sasuke didn't really have to be, as this wasn't _his_ first day at the academy, but Itachi knew that his brother would be nervous, too. He was a little child, everything that took place outside the family's house was exciting for him. "A little bit", Sasuke replied and, still under his covers, approached towards his older brother, snuggling against him. Itachi wrapped his arms around the little boy and hugged him. He didn't admit very often, but he did love his brother.

A few minutes later somebody knocked at the boys' bedroom door and opened it. "Oh, you two are awake already?", a familiar voice asked. It belonged to Mikoto, Itachi's and Sasuke's mother, a very pretty woman in her mid-twenties with long, black hair and dark eyes, like almost every member of the Uchiha clan had. She moved to the boys' bed and bent over Itachi in order to give him a small good-morning kiss on the forehead. When she did the same to Sasuke, the boy wrapped his arms around her neck tightly, so she had to pick him up. "You cuddly little thing", Mikoto smiled at her little boy who was nestling his head on her shoulder. Then she turned to her older son: "Had a good sleep, Itachi-san?" Itachi nodded. "Well then", Mikoto said, "I suggest you two get ready while I'm preparing breakfast. Can you help Sasuke-kun to get dressed?" "Of course, Mama!", Itachi replied. He had done many times before.

His mother smiled at him, proud of her son. He was so kind and helpful, and argued with his brother very rarely. Mikoto had heard from many other parents that their kids would fight every day, not only using words but also fists. Itachi seemed not to be interested in fights at all. He would rather wander off when his little brother bothered him. Sometimes it seemed as if Itachi even ignored his sibling, as if he wasn't interested in him at all. But then again, he really cared about him and wouldn't let anybody harm him. With these thoughts in mind, Mikoto put Sasuke back down and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her family.

After his mother had left, Sasuke immediately ran to the closet and pulled out a huge pile of clothes. "What are you going to wear, Itachi-kun? I want to wear the same like you today!", Sasuke said. Itachi had got out of the bed by then, giving a quizzical look to his brother now. He hadn't thought about what he would wear today. Presumably the same clothes as he always did. Yes, today was a special day, but what had clothes to do with it? "Just a T-shirt and pants, I guess", he answered. Sasuke rolled his eyes, as if Itachi was too stupid to get the point. "Yeah, but what color?", he asked. "Black." Black was Itachi's favorite color. He didn't know why, but most of his T-shirts and other clothes in his closet were black. He didn't like prints on them, like a lot of other children did, just plain black. Sasuke smiled happily and searched the pile in front of him. Finally, he pulled out a black T-shirt and a pair of white shorts and held them out to Itachi. "Are these okay?", he asked, his big, dark eyes sparkling. "They're fine", Itachi laughed. His little brother seemed to be way more excited than him right now.

Sasuke held up his arms above his head. Itachi pulled off the white shirt his brother used to wear at night, then helped him to put on the black one, gently tickling his sides while giving the T-shirt a tug. Sasuke winced and giggled, then tried to tickle Itachi as well, but didn't succeed. At this very moment, Mikoto called out for them: "Five more minutes until breakfast! Hurry if you two aren't ready yet!" "Let's stop fooling around, little brother", Itachi said. He helped Sasuke to get dressed further, then flicked his forehead before he went to leave the room. "Itai!", Sasuke shouted, "why do you always do that?" Itachi didn't answer, but said: "Come on, Mama is waiting."

In the kitchen, Mikoto was already sitting at the table with her husband Fugaku, one of the leaders of the clan and a high-ranked ninja acknowledged and highly honored by most of the villagers. "Good morning, you two", he said when Itachi and Sasuke entered the room. "Good morning", Itachi replied, while Sasuke would run towards his father and wrap his arms around him, mumbling a "good morning". Fugaku hugged him quickly, then pushed him away gently, but either firmly. "Go seat yourself and eat something", he ordered. "Don't be so affectionate", he wanted to add, but remained silent. He didn't like it very much when Sasuke showed his feelings this clearly. Okay, he was a little kid, and kids usually wanted to be hugged, but in Fugaku's view, his son sometimes overdid things.

After having brushed his teeth and having packed some things, Itachi waited for his parents with his sibling in front of the door. Sasuke was struggling to put his shoes on, but this time Itachi wouldn't give him a hand. He was beginning to get a bit more nervous than he thought. What if he didn't fit in, what if he wasn't good enough to become a shinobi after all?

Finally, Mikoto showed up and asked: "Well then, Itachi-kun. Are you afraid?" Itachi startled. "Sh… should I?", he asked.

Mikoto laughed. "Not at all", she said, "I just imagined you could be somewhat nervous, but you don't seem to be at all."

Itachi smiled at her, thankful that she obviously hadn't noticed his hands slightly shaking. "I'm looking forward to this", he said bravely. A few seconds later, Fugaku joined them. Sasuke had finally managed to put his second shoe on and was now stretching out his arms to his mother. Mikoto bent down in order to give her son a piggy-back, and he climbed on her back, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck. Itachi watched them, then looked at his father. "You're a big boy now", Fugaku said, "I don't have to carry a future ninja, do I?" Itachi swallowed at first, but then shook his head firmly, suddenly feeling proud. His father gave him a look of satisfaction before they left.

Three words were etched on Itachi's memory:

_A future ninja._


	2. part 2: Monday morning

Not far away from the Uchiha family's house, two Konoha villagers were having breakfast as well. Well, actually only one of them was sitting at the small table, a black haired guy, already fully dressed and wearing his Konoha headband, leafing through a book and grinning from ear to ear. The young shinobi was known as Umino Iruka, and at the moment he seemed to be pretty cheerful. Today was the first working day after the holidays, and he was really looking forward to it. There was only one thing bothering him – the loud snoring coming from the bedroom next to his kitchen.

"Oi, you lazy bum, you won't miss class on the first day, will you?", Iruka called out to the sleeping figure a few minutes later. Only a tuft of gray hair could be seen as the one lying on the bed pulled his cover up to his nose. Iruka appeared in the door frame, tapping his foot. "Come on, get up already", he said. As he didn't get any reply, he moved to the head of the bed to see what was going on. "Are you awake?", he asked and bent down to check if the late riser was still asleep. Suddenly, two hands dashed forward from under the covers, pulling Iruka onto the bed and holding him tightly. At first taken by surprise, he didn't react against it, but then broke free.

"We really don't have the time for this", he said, "you better get up and hurry…"

"Iruka-sensei", the other one interrupted, "don't be so restless. There is plenty of time."

Two warm hands wandered under Iruka's shirt as he tried to stand up, tenderly caressing his body, making him sit on the bed again.

"What the…", Iruka uttered, involuntarily shuddering at the touch, "I don't think we should do that right now…"

"Do what?", the other asked innocently while sitting up.

"I… I'm not in the mood", Iruka said.

"Liar", his counterpart said while slowly starting to kiss Iruka's neck. The touch made him shiver with delight, so he couldn't help turning his head and kissed the warm red lips eagerly. But then he stood up abruptly, containing himself.

"I'm leaving now", he said while putting his jacket on, "and you should do so as well."

The gray haired smirked and laid back. "There's still plenty of time. I'll wait here, so if you should happen to find out you're in the mood after all, just come back."

Iruka gave him a glance before he left. "You're incorrigible, Kakashi-sensei."

Outside his flat Iruka bumped into a young man, maybe two or three years younger than him, with red hair and slate eyes, wearing a long brown hooded robe and a ginger scarf. "Good morning, Iruka-sensei", he said in his soft, calm voice, "Already on the move that early?"

"Good morning", Iruka answered, "yes, today is the first working day at the academy."

"I know", the red head smiled, "I'm working at the academy as well."

"Ah, you're right", Iruka said after hesitating at first, "now I remember you! You're Akasuna Sasori, the new teacher from Suna-Gakure, right?"

"Exactly. Seems as if we're living next door."

Iruka smiled, then realized that he hadn't introduced himself. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name is…" Thinking about it, hadn't Sasori called him by his name just a minute ago?

The red head smiled. "It's fine, I already know your name. Nice to meet you, Iruka-sensei."

"Nice to meet you", Iruka said as well, slightly blushing, "do you want to head for the academy with me?"

"Oh, I'd love to", Sasori smiled, "but I have to get a few things done before."

"I see", Iruka said, "see you later at the academy, then."

Sasori nodded to him, then he turned around and walked the other way.

Phew! Fortunately, Kakashi was always late in the morning, so Sasori hadn't seen them together. Iruka didn't insist on keeping it secret, but he didn't want everyone to know about Kakashi sleeping at his flat from time to time, either. Adjusting his headband, he started to head for the academy.

A large crowd had gathered in front of the academy building when Iruka arrived. He couldn't help grinning when he saw all the children with their parents. He really loved the first days! Straightening himself, he started to walk towards them. Some of the adults were talking to their children or other parents and wouldn't notice him at all, but most of them greeted him when he passed by. From time to time he would stop and answer questions or just chat with the people he already knew. One of the families he had known for years was the Uchiha family. Fugaku, one of the clan leaders, and his wife Mikoto were standing next to a tree, looking around as if waiting. Ah, right, their son was one of the students new to the academy! What an intelligent boy. Iruka walked over in order to welcome them.

"Good morning, Fugaku-sama, Mikoto-sama", he said, then bent down to the black haired boy, "and Itachi-kun, pleased to see you."

"What about me?", a fine voice asked.

Looking up, Iruka noticed a little boy sitting on Mikoto's back, looking like a smaller version of Itachi. The teacher smiled and ran his fingers through the boy's raven hair.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun, I didn't know you were here, too."

Itachi's little brother smiled, happy that Iruka had recognized him. How could he ever forget these boys' names? They were something special, concerning the clan they belonged to. Almost all members of the Uchiha clan had become great shinobi so far. Well, Sasuke was still too young – Iruka couldn't tell yet if he was to follow his ancestors' ways, but Itachi would definitely do. He was only eight years old but had already an incredible amount of chakra inside him, as far as Iruka could see, even if the boy didn't know about that yet. Furthermore, he was a very calm and deliberate character, which would make him a perfect shinobi in the future.

Continuing his conversation with the Uchiha family, Iruka let his eyes wander across the academy ground. He knew almost every family that had come here today. There were different families from the Hyuuga clan – its members could be identified easily by their mostly long, black hair and their clear eyes. There were also people from the Aburame clan – as well clearly recognizable by their dark sunglasses covering their eyes and the long coats with the popped collars they used to wear. Almost every clan had a special appearance – whether hair color, eye color or clothing – that made it easy to tell the surnames of most of the children at the academy. In Itachi's and Sasuke's case it was the raven black hair and the dark eyes as well as the Uchiha clan's symbol printed somewhere on each piece of their clothing.

But there were also a few people Iruka couldn't remember. For example this strange silver haired kid with the malicious smile on his face, who was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, looking pretty self-assured even if he was obviously new to the academy. Suddenly Iruka's eyes stopped. There was another kid he didn't know, one he had never seen in the village before. The most eye-catching detail was that he was blond, a color that was quite rare in the village. His hair was all messy and matted, hanging down in strands, covering parts of his face. The kid was rather skinny and was clutching the arm of a woman standing next to him, whom Iruka considered the boy's mother, as her hair had the same color as his. At first sight, the blond reminded Iruka of Uzumaki Naruto, a three-year-old boy he had met at the Konoha orphanage a while ago, who also had blond hair and the same big, cerulean eyes as the kid Iruka was staring at right now. The teacher said good bye to the Uchiha parents, who weren't talking to him anymore, anyway, and curiously walked over to the two blondes.

He could hear the woman shouting at the child when he got near them. "Let go of me!", she yelled and tried to get her arm free, but the boy wouldn't loosen his grip.

"Good morning", Iruka said. The woman lifted her head and looked at him with surprise. "My name is Umino Iruka", Iruka continued, "I am a teacher. You are new to this village, aren't you?"

"That's right", the woman replied and then introduced herself, "I am Iwanendo Araijo."

"Pleased to meet you", Iruka smiled and bent down to the boy, "and you are…?"

"His name is Deidara", Araijo answered instead of him, "and as you can see, he's a real pain in the…"

"Pleased to meet you, Deidara", Iruka quickly interrupted. This woman seemed to be in a bad mood today. Iruka held out his hand towards Deidara, but the boy would bury his face in the cloth of his mother's coat.

"You don't need to be so shy", Iruka smiled, even if thinking to himself that it was quite unusual for a boy of his age to hide behind his mother.

"If it were only that he was shy", Araijo said angrily, "actually, he is an abject coward."

"Being new to a village and not knowing anybody can be rather frightening", Iruka said, but the woman wasn't listening anymore. She turned her head to the boy who was still clinging to her and tilted his head up roughly.

"Listen, Deidara, if you don't let go already, then I'll make you let go of me! Got that?" She shook her arm to make clear what she meant. Slowly the cerulean eyed boy let up on her, but was still standing close beside her.

"Thank you very much", she said in an ironic voice, stretching her arm, "and now I'm leaving."

Itachi gave his mother's coat a tug. "Have you seen that blond boy, Mama?", he asked. Mikoto turned her head to see at whom her son was aiming.

"That's rare, isn't it?", Itachi asked.

"It is indeed", Mikoto replied, thinking about whether she had seen the boy Iruka was talking to before.

"May I walk over to him?", Itachi asked, "He looks a bit lost."

Mikoto smiled. What a nice boy her son was! Seeming to be withdrawn into himself sometimes, he actually cared a lot about other people. "You may", she nodded, "if you want."

"I want to come with you, neesan", Sasuke whimpered, attempting to jump off his mother's back.

"You stay where you are", Mikoto said sharply, stopping her son from clambering down by grabbing his arms behind her neck, "I don't want you to get lost. Look how many people are running around here. I won't find you again if you wander off."

"Oh, I see", Sasuke mumbled, all at once scared, and wrapped his arms around her mother's neck again. He had gotten lost not too long ago when going shopping with his mother, and it hadn't been fun at all.

Itachi was walking towards Iruka and the blond boy, when a familiar voice called out his name. "Itachi! Oi, Itachi-san!"

The raven haired boy turned around in order to see if he remembered rightly whose voice that was. And indeed, a tall, blue-skinned boy with spiky ocean blue hair and vivid eyes was running towards him, punching his side when reaching him.

"Kisame, it's you!", Itachi called out joyfully.

"Yup, it's me", Kisame replied.

"I didn't think you would attend, after all", Itachi said.

"Neither did I", Kisame said proudly, "but here I am!"

Itachi stared at his friend. "You've gotten so tall, Kisame-san."

Kisame giggled. "It's creepy, isn't it? But look at my parents, they're tall as well, so I guess it just runs in the family."

Then he suddenly grinned from ear to ear. "Ah, so cool I met you here, Itachi-san!"

A few steps farther Mikoto twitched. Oh no, not _that _boy again…

Hoshigaki Kisame used to be in kindergarten with Itachi. Although they were very different characters, they had become friends. Mikoto didn't like that blue boy at all. He was rude and wild and one of those kids who would always cause trouble if you didn't keep your eyes glued to them. But the worst thing was, as Itachi seemed to be very attracted by Kisame, both of them would cause trouble together. Mikoto had hoped that they would go separate ways after kindergarten, as Kisame didn't seem to be interested in becoming a shinobi. But now he obviously had changed his mind. Well, it couldn't be helped, then. They were meant to be friends.

Itachi was chatting happily with Kisame. "Have you seen that blond guy over there?", he asked.

Kisame turned his head, then wrinkled up his nose. "Ugh, what a wimp", he said snidely, "I took him as a girl at first."

"He seems to be lonely", Itachi stated.

"Yeah, whatever." Kisame seemed not to be interested at all, so Itachi dropped the subject.

"Did you get your schedule yet?", Itachi asked.

"Oh, yeah, Iruka-sensei gave it to me. Shall we compare them?"

"My mother still has it."

"Well, then let's go get it!" Kisame rushed off and stopped right in front of Mikoto, who gave a surprised glance at him.

"Good morning, Itachi's Mom-sama", Kisame smirked.

"Hello, Kisame", Mikoto said with a sigh, "it's Mikoto. I thought you know that."

"I actually forgot", Kisame said, still smirking.

"Can I have my schedule, Mama?", Itachi asked.

"Oh", Mikoto said, "I almost forgot about that! I should have given it to you already in the morning." She ransacked her pockets while Kisame was smirking at the little boy at her back. He didn't say anything, he only stared. Sasuke froze when he saw the blue boy next to his brother. Of course he knew him, and he didn't like him. Whenever Kisame was around, Itachi wouldn't play with him or help him anymore. They would rather chase him all through the house in order to tease him and would only stop if their mother or father told them to cut it out.

"Ugh, Sasuke, would you please let me breathe", Mikoto gasped. Her son's grip around her neck had tightened within seconds. _I don't like him, either_, Mikoto thought but remained silent. Finally, she had found the schedule and handed it to Itachi. "Thank you, Mama."

"So cute", Kisame said, aiming at Sasuke, who was burying his face to his mother's shoulder.

Fugaku looked at his watch. "We are about to leave now", he stated, "have a nice day, and behave yourselves."

"Of course, Itachi's father-sama", Kisame smirked at the Uchiha clan leader before he walked away with Itachi.

"What an annoying brat", Fugaku said.

Mikoto sighed. "You can say that again."

Fortunately, Itachi and Kisame didn't hear that anymore. They were checking out their schedules and comparing them to each other. As far as they could see, they were the same, so they were able to sit next to each other in class. Itachi was enthusiastic. "Look, Kisame-san, it says not only math and science and arts and all that boring stuff, but it also says things like chakra control and transformation and gen-jutsu and stuff!"

Kisame laughed. "Guess that's what it's like at a ninja academy", he giggled.


	3. part 3: lunch time

"Jeez, so late, so late!"

Kakashi was rushing through the bedroom, picking up his clothes from the floor. Of course he had fallen asleep again after Iruka had left. Now there were exactly ten minutes left until class. He cursed himself for being so lazy. Why hadn't he just gotten up when Iruka had told him to? If so, both of them could have had breakfast together unhurriedly, sitting next to each other, maybe exchanging a kiss or two… Argh, again he was stuck with those thoughts. If he hadn't been so lazy, he would be sitting in his office now, maybe with Iruka, maybe having a coffee, maybe talking to him, maybe running his hands through his black hair and gently kissing his forehead before his hands would slide… Stop! He really had to cut it out. Now he cursed himself for having accepted to be a teacher at the academy this year. He wasn't used to get up that early. He used to read one of his favorite books until late at night, sleep in until afternoon and then maybe do some training with his team, if he was applied to one. But working as a teacher… what on earth had made him do that?

Actually, he did know pretty well what was the reason. It was this guy. Iruka. Iruka-sensei. Kakashi had known him for years, but had never realized how much he liked him. Up to now. A few weeks ago, he had met him by accident at the public hot springs. He didn't know what exactly happened, but at the end of the evening they were heading for the same bedroom and stayed there until the next day. And the day after that, they met again at Kakashi's flat. And then at a restaurant. And then at the hot springs again. And now he was here, at Iruka's flat, looking for his darned shorts.

When he finally had managed to get dressed and slammed the door behind him, he crashed into somebody.

"Itai!" A red haired male had slumped onto the floor, rubbing his head, books and sheets scattered around him.

"Oh… um… I'm sorry!", said Kakashi, „Did you hurt yourself?" Kakashi stretched out his hand and helped the red head to stand up again.

"I'm fine", he said, "I guess I'm quite solid."

Kakashi laughed. "Glad to hear", he said, then introduced himself, "I'm Hatake Kakashi."

"Akasuna Sasori", the red head said as he gathered his stuff from the floor, "looks like we're living next door."

Kakashi smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm in a hurry…"

He turned around and headed for the academy. At least there was one good thing about being late – Sasori hadn't seen him and Iruka leave together.

Sasori, left behind, only smiled.

"Ah, that was fun, wasn't it!", Kisame exclaimed as he and Itachi left the academy building at lunch time.

"You said it", Itachi replied, "I could hear about this gen-jutsu stuff all day."

"I quite believe it", Kisame laughed before slumping to the ground, "time to eat!" He rummaged through his bag while Itachi was scanning the area with his eyes.

"This place is quite nice, isn't it", he stated, looking at the grass and the trees.

"Oh no, not ramen", Kisame yelled, not listening to Itachi at all, "my mom packed me ramen for lunch, although she knows I hate it. Can you imagine that, Itachi-san?" He grumbled. "You don't have anything tasty with you, do you?"

"I only have this", Itachi replied and showed Kisame his lunch, some pieces of tuna and salmon sushi, his favorite food.

Kisame was shaking with disgust. "Bah, I don't eat fish. That's even worse than ramen. Seems as if I don't have anything for lunch after all…"

"You can have mine."

Both Kisame and Itachi startled at the unknown voice, then turned around right away. A light-skinned kid was leaning against a tree, his striking crimson eyes giving a piercing glance at the two boys sitting on the ground. He was holding a box with something in it that looked and smelt like chicken, as far as Kisame could tell. He raised to his feet and curiously walked over to the boy, followed by Itachi, who was staring at the strange kid, fascinated by his shoulder-length hair. The blond boy he had seen in the morning had been a rare sight, but Itachi had never seen somebody with silver hair.

When Kisame had reached the tree the kid was leaning against, he regarded the bowl in his hand with curiosity and sniffed. "Oi, that's really chicken, isn't it?", he asked joyfully.

"What else?", the silver haired kid asked back, still holding the bowl to Kisame, "Well? You want some or am I supposed to fucking eat it by myself?" He twitched.

"Oops", he exclaimed immediately after having finished his sentence and put his hand over his mouth.

"What's wrong?", Kisame asked.

"Umm… nothing", the silver haired kid answered, "my Mama just told me not to swear in front of other people, but I can't fucking help it."

He froze, than slammed his hand over his mouth again, harder than before. "Oops", he giggled, "did it again!"

Kisame took the bowl the boy was offering to him and began to eat. "Oh, that's really good!", he exclaimed, "May I finish it off?"

"For all I care", said the silver haired, "I don't like it, anyway." He watched Kisame who was eating up his lunch, munching. "I don't _fucking_ like it, anyway", he mumbled away to himself as softly as he could. If nobody heard it, he wouldn't have to apologize, either.

"What's your name?", he asked then.

"You're pretty rude, aren't you", Kisame blamed him.

The crimson eyed male just repeated giggling. "I am indeed", he said.

"One has to introduce oneself before asking for the other one's name", Kisame explained smart-alecky.

"Ah, whatever. I don't care. I can come up with a nickname if you don't want to tell me."

Kisame froze. A lot of kids used to nickname him because of his uncommon skin color. Little children could be real cruel about things like that. "No, you don't have to", he said quickly, "you can call me by my real name. It's Kisame."

The silver haired kid nodded, then looked at Itachi. "And you?", he asked.

"You really have no manners, have you?", Itachi replied, but then gave in as well, "I'm Itachi."

Finally, the stranger disclosed his name as well. "I'm Hidan. Pleased to meet you."

The three of them sat down together next to the tree. Kisame had already finished Hidan's lunch, when Itachi only started to eat his. The blue boy eyed up the silver haired. "You look strange", he said.

"So do you!", Hidan huffed.

"I know", Kisame giggled, "people keep telling me that." Hidan smiled.

"You don't have to worry about that", Kisame continued, "as we all seem to be somewhat weird."

Itachi pricked up his ears. "I'm not weird", he said. He wanted to add something when he suddenly caught sight of the blond boy again. He was standing in the middle of the yard all alone, rubbing his eyes as if wiping away tears. Itachi stared at him while Kisame and Hidan continued their conversation.

"There are a lot of freaks at this academy", Kisame stated, "like this guy with that black mask from our math class. He would always raise his hand, no matter what the teacher asked, knowing all the answers to his questions, right, Itachi-san?"

"So he's just a fucking nerd", Hidan said, "being a nerd doesn't make you a freak, does it?"

"I think he is one", Kisame claimed, "it's not normal for a kid to wear a mask, is it? I think he's hiding something."

"Presumably a calculator."

Kisame burst out laughing. "Man, you're funny", he chuckled, "isn't he, Itachi-san?"

Said boy wasn't listening at all. He was mesmerized by the skinny blond straying around, looking all lost. Itachi felt sorry for him. He was glad that he had met Kisame the very first day, he had found somebody to hang around with, but this guy seemed to be all alone. Itachi couldn't stand the sight anymore and decided to walk over.

It seemed as if the long-haired boy was sniffing when Itachi reached him. Had he really been crying? "Hi!", Itachi called out.

The blond startled and turned around abruptly. Two bleary cerulean eyes were looking at Itachi, widened with fear. The boy's face was dirty, some of his shaggy hair was sticking to it.

"Hi", Itachi repeated, "I'm Uchiha Itachi. You seemed to be lost, so I wanted to talk to you. What's your name?"

The blond just stared at the black haired, blushing slightly. Kisame had followed Itachi. "Oi, Itachi-san, what are you doing over there?", Kisame asked.

The blue-skinned boy gave the blond a spiteful look. "Yeesh, what a pathetic little brat."

"What's your name?", Itachi asked again. The blond didn't answer, but started to chew on his lip, blushing even more.

"Oi, what's the matter?", Hidan exclaimed, shoving in between Itachi and Kisame and slapping both of them on their backs as if they had been friends for years. "Who's that?"

"I don't know", Itachi shrugged, "he wouldn't tell me." He looked into the blond boy's almond-shaped eyes.

"Oi, you mute?", Hidan yelled at him, "Or just fucking dumb?"

"You don't have to be afraid", Itachi said. The shy boy reminded him of Sasuke, who wouldn't talk to strangers either. Save that Sasuke was three, while the blond guy in front of his seemed to be around Itachi's age.

"I know the academy pretty well", he said, "if you don't know where to go, just tell me, I can take you there." He grabbed the boy's hand, trying to pull him along. Beyond his expectation, the hand Itachi had clutched was pretty hot – and _wet_. The raven haired boy boggled at the sensation, then took a closer look at the smooth red thing sticking out at the boy's palm. At first sight, it looked like – a _tongue_. Fascinated, Itachi took the boy's other hand as well. It looked the same, a small pale hand with a mouth on it. "What are these?", Itachi asked.

The blond broke away roughly from Itachi's grip and hid his hand in his pockets, blushing deeply, shakily backing up.

"Please, don't run away", Itachi asked friendly, "you don't have to be ashamed. Is that your kekkei genkai?"

The blond looked at him, puzzled. "Your bloodline limit?", Itachi explained, in case the boy hadn't heard of the term yet, "Like, your special ability?"

The cerulean eyed boy still looked as if he would scurry away within the next seconds. Itachi wanted to comfort that poor little guy.

"Look, I have one, too", he said and closed his eyes. He concentrated, focusing all the energy he could feel inside him to a certain spot, then opened his eyes again.

The blond boy's eyes widened with fear as he saw the black haired one's flash red. At first he froze, then turned around quickly and ran away as fast as he could, disappearing in the crowd.

Hidan gave Itachi an astonished look as the Uchiha's eyes flashed back to normal.

"What the hell was that?!"


	4. part 4: an art lesson

"What the hell was that?!", Hidan repeated himself.

"I don't know", Itachi responded, "I didn't think he would run away actually."

Hidan snorted. "I didn't mean this fucking brat", he said, "I mean your damned eyes."

Kisame was mesmerized. "Was that the sharingan, Itachi-san? How did you activate it?" Of course the blue-skinned boy had heard about the Uchiha family's bloodline limit. It was known all over in the village. But he had never seen it before. He had been of the opinion that Itachi was still too young to use it.

"I don't know", Itachi shrugged.

"You don't know?", Hidan hissed, "But you must have been doing something, or do your eyes just fucking flash red by themselves from time to time?"

"I really don't know", Itachi tried to explain, "I just focused energy."

"Focused energy?", Kisame repeated zestfully, "What do you mean by that? How do you do it?"

"I have no idea", Itachi snarled, getting impatient, "I just do."

When Sasori opened the door of the classroom, he couldn't believe his eyes. This must be heaven, after all.

"Is it okay with you?", a young, black haired woman next to him asked, "I mean, for the first day…"

"It's awesome", Sasori stumbled, "totally awesome. Thank you very much, Anko-sama."

The woman smiled happily. "Glad you like it", she said, "if anything is missing, just let me know. Have a nice first day!" With this she was gone.

Sasori let his eyes wander across the room. If this was the place he would be working from now on, he couldn't complain at all. Slowly he started to walk around and survey his new workplace. There was everything he needed, absolutely everything. There were pencils of all colors, charcoal, crayons, watercolors, several stacks of paper, scissors, cutters, paintbrushes, there were different piles of fabric, clay, and even wood. Oh, he was so lucky! He had never been able to afford anything like this, but here it was: his own workshop, so to speak, and he didn't even have to pay for it – on the contrary, he _was_ paid for it! He couldn't wait to try out all these tools with his students.

Sasori was the new art teacher. He was actually born in Suna-Gakure, a village about three days away from here. As a kid he had already been interested in art, no matter if it was painting, drawing, handicrafts or carpentry, he was good at everything, if he could only make use of his creativity and his deft hands. His major interest, after all, was directed at puppets. They had been his favorite toys in former times, and now he was nearly obsessed with them.

Buried in his thoughts, Sasori hadn't noticed that the main classroom had already filled with children. Slowly returning to reality, he could hear several children babbling and chattering. The red head left his new workshop, which was actually a side room of the bigger main classroom, which was furnished with desks and chairs, a blackboard, and different maps on the walls. There were about twenty kids in the room, some of them neatly sitting at their desks, some of them still standing around.

"Fuck, I don't want to wait any longer for that damned teacher."

Sasori spun around in surprise. Most of the children seemed not to have noticed him yet. Some of them were even sitting I_on/I_ their desks, a thing Sasori couldn't stand at all.

"Oi, young man", Sasori yelled, "you with the silver hair, watch your language."

The boy twitched and looked at him, a pair of crimson eyes staring into Sasori's slate ones. When the student realized he had been addressed, he covered his mouth with his hand, as if ashamed. The noise level in the classroom had reduced.

"All right, then", Sasori exclaimed, "I'm Akasuna Sasori, your art teacher. Now seat yourselves, please."

The children still standing around started to bustle about. Sasori wondered if they were afraid of him, as they were obeying immediately. He watched them as they tried to find a place to sit down.

"Man, this is gonna be fucking boring."

Sasori couldn't believe his ears. "Watch your mouth, I said!", he shouted at the silver haired boy again.

"Oops", the said murmured, "I was bad again."

It seemed as if the boy was smirking at him, but Sasori couldn't tell if he really was, as his mouth was covered by his hand again. The red head got angry. Was this brat trying to mess around with him?

"You", Sasori started to approach him, "your name."

"It's Ameketsueki Hidan, Sasori-sensei, sir!"

Some of the students giggled at the sudden exclamation. Sasori wondered if the boy was trying to make fun of him again, when the said started to apologize.

"I'm sorry for swearing in front of you, Sasori-sensei, sir!", he called out. Sasori nodded happily, when he suddenly heard the second part of Hidan's sentence:

"I won't fucking do it again!"

Sasori shivered with anger. It wasn't the swearing itself which annoyed him but the way the boy would undermine his authority. The red head closed his eyes, trying to calm down. _Come on, _he was just a kid. Nevertheless, at this very moment Sasori really, _really_ wanted to walk over to him and slap him right across the face. But of course he didn't. He was a teacher now, he wasn't allowed to hit helpless kids, even if they were a real pain in the neck. When he opened his eyes again a few seconds later, Hidan had sat down, talking to his neighbor, like most of the other children as well. Sasori averted his gaze from him quickly. He really wanted to start his lesson now.

A few minutes later, Sasori's students were very busy. He had told them that they were allowed to use every tool from the side room, doing something creative with them. This way he wanted to see the children's abilities and their stage of development. In Sasori's view, art was the key to all ninja arts. He knew shinobi who would attack their enemies by making drawings come to life, shinobi who could use gen-jutsu by means of paintings, and also shinobi puppeteers, like he was. To him, all of them were artists, and he wanted to know if anyone of his students was one, too.

He strolled around, watching the kids, looking at their work, sometimes asking them questions. Except for two guys, who were tinkering with some pieces of wood, and a girl with blue hair, who was doing a neat paper cut, most of them were painting or drawing, as expected, and of course a lot were painting scenes involving shinobi. Konoha symbols could be seen on a few sheets, as well as kunai and shuriken, the most popular weapons the kids already knew. Some of them were even painting battle scenes, like Hidan, whose sheet was full of disembodied heads and extremities as well as a lot of blood. In the middle of the paper, he had drawn a circle with a strange symbol Sasori had never seen before.

"What's that?", the teacher asked curiously.

Hidan smiled at him happily. "A massacre", he responded.

Sasori grinned, even if he hadn't meant the whole picture but the symbol. A massacre. How lovely. With pictures like this on his mind, Hidan would become a reckless shinobi for sure – but this boy was destined for holding a weapon in his hand, not a pencil. Fortunately, that meant that Sasori would never have to train him after he had finished school. Thankfully for that fact, Sasori ruffled the boy's silver hair before moving on.

Another child aroused the puppeteer's interest. It was the black haired boy Hidan had been talking to when Sasori had entered the room. He was drawing at well, and he seemed to be totally absorbed in it. He was running the pencil over the sheet with a steady hand, obviously absolutely positive about what he was doing. Sasori was flabbergasted when he saw that the boy was drawing a person, to be more precise a person that looked just like him – a handsome young boy with two strands of black hair dangling down over his cheeks and with almond-shaped, dark eyes, almost looking like a photograph to Sasori.

"You're pretty good", the teacher said, "is that you?"

The boy startled as he heard the voice behind his back. He turned around slowly and began to stumble: "N… no, that's not me, it's my little brother."

"I see", Sasori said, "it looks pretty realistic. I wonder how you managed to remember that many details about his face."

The boy blushed slightly. "I don't know", he shrugged.

Sasori smiled at him. "What's your name?", he asked.

"It's Uchiha Itachi", the boy responded.

Ah, an individual of that particular clan… Sasori had heard a lot about it and its gifted members. At last that explained a few things.

"That's a good piece of work, Itachi", Sasori said, "keep it up."

He could sense a pretty high amount of chakra flowing through the Uchiha's body. The red head was tempted to put his hand onto the boy's shoulders, but he wondered if Itachi would be fine with that. It was yet too early to explain to him what he was doing, if the boy should ask him… But then, Sasori couldn't resist and touched the boy's back softly. Itachi twitched and turned his head, but he didn't ask anything. He just smiled at his teacher. After all, he had interpreted Sasori's behavior as an act of acknowledging. The red head could sense Itachi's chakra flow evenly through his body, neither changing direction nor conglomerating at any spot, like it usually still did with children of his age. Smiling happily, Sasori removed his hands. Yes, this boy would definitely be a credit to his clan later on.

The boy sitting next to Itachi wasn't moving at all. He had placed his head on his desk, his arms dangling down motionlessly, as he watched Itachi with a bored expression on his face. He looked as if dozing off within the next seconds.

"You're not interested in art, are you?", Sasori asked him.

"Naaah", the boy drawled, neither lifting his head nor looking up at his teacher, "not at all."

There was only one clan featuring blue skin and hair, so it wasn't hard to tell the boy's surname. Furthermore, Sasori had heard people talking about the bold boy yet, so he knew his first name as well.

"You're Hoshigaki Kisame, right?"

"Yeah." Kisame didn't seem to be surprised at all that his teacher already knew his name. He could hardly keep his eyes open at the moment.

"So", Sasori asked, "if you aren't interested in art, what are you interested in, then?"

Kisame yawned, revealing a row of spotless white spiky teeth. "Umm… I… like… sports", he drawled again.

"That's hard to believe", Sasori chuckled, "don't you want to try out anything?"

"Not really."

"Why not? Everyone else does."

"Just too taxing", Kisame yawned.

Oh boy. This individual probably wasn't meant to be a shinobi at all, if even using pen and paper exhausted him. Now that Sasori had checked Itachi, he couldn't resist to check Kisame as well, just for comparison… As he put his hand on the boy's head, he was struck with astonishment. There was no even flow of chakra, there wasn't even a flow, it was a mess; lots of whirls and curls and peaks, energy rushing back and forth irregularly – but there was _so much_ of it! Sasori couldn't believe a lazy boy like him was holding such a high amount of chakra. It was even higher than Itachi's.

"Would you mind removing your hand, Sasori-sensei?", Kisame mumbled, still not making one single move except those of his mouth and tongue in order to speak, "It's getting heavy, and you're messing up my hair."

The red head took off his hand, shaking his head in disbelief. This boy had absolutely no idea what he was up to. What a long, long way to go.

After he had looked at almost every child's work, time was finally up. Sasori watched his new students leave the room in uproar, then he started to gather up the tools they had used. He hadn't told them to tidy them away yet, since it was their first day. Furthermore, he liked to touch them. He hadn't owned brushes and pencils and all that for a long time, so holding them in his hands felt really good. When he entered the side room in order to put them back, he boggled. One of his students had remained. A skinny boy with messy, long, blond hair was standing at one of the tables, his tongue stuck between his teeth in concentration as he dug his hands into a heap of clay. He placed a small lump in his hand, molding it into a little figure that looked like a bird to Sasori in no time. When he had finished it, he looked at it skeptical, then suddenly made it vanish again by pressing it tightly back into the heap of clay on the table. He repeated this procedure immediately – he molded clay with his hands into something that looked like an insect this time, watched it for a few seconds, then destroyed it. As he took a lump of clay for the third time, Sasori interrupted.

"Oi, young man!", he called out.

The boy was startled so bad he jumped backwards, slamming against the wall behind him, dropping the sculpture he had been holding.

"Easy, easy, young man", Sasori laughed, "time is up, didn't you hear the bell?"

The blond blushed and pressed against the wall firmly. Both of his hands were sticky with clay, as well as parts of his face and even his hair. He must have been really busy.

Sasori walked over to him and picked up the little bird the boy had made. It looked exactly like an owl, as if copied from a real one, only its right wing had been slightly dented by the drop. Sasori was fascinated by the boy's work.

"You are skilled", he said, "why do you destroy them as soon as you finish them? They're brilliant. You should keep them."

The blond averted his big cerulean eyes from the red haired teacher and bit his lower lip, blushing even more. Yeesh, this kid was shy. Sasori didn't remember him at all, he must have been in the side room for the whole lesson.

"What's your name?", he asked him.

"Sasori?", someone called at that very moment, "Sasori-sensei, are you still here?"

A black haired male appeared in the door frame. It was Iruka.

"Ah, there you are, Sasori-sensei", he smiled, "I wondered if you…"

He stopped as he got aware of the blond boy who pressed against the wall. "Hello, Deidara-kun, pleased to see you again!"

Sasori turned his head back to the blond. "So, your name is Deidara?", he asked.

The boy, still frozen, gazed at him without giving any reply. Sasori gave a puzzled glimpse at Iruka. What was the matter with this weird kid? Was he just shy or slow-witted? Iruka was still smiling. Actually, he always seemed to be smiling.

"It's not easy to come through the day if you don't know anybody, is it?", he addressed Deidara.

Ah, so that was it all about. This kid was obviously new to the village. No need to be so taciturn, though.

Iruka turned to Sasori again. "I just wondered if you received all of the books you demanded", he said.

"Yes, thank you", Sasori responded, "it's fine. I have everything I need."

"Glad to hear", Iruka said, "then I'm off again." With this he left.

Sasori looked at Deidara.

"So, you're new to the village", he said, "I know how you feel. Look, I'm new to the village, too." The blond looked up.

"Yes, I'm serious", Sasori continued, "I arrived here just two weeks ago. This village is so big, isn't it?"

Deidara was still staring at him. Sasori wondered if he had understood at all or if he just had looked up incidentally.

"You aren't deaf, are you?", the red head asked. But then he remembered how Deidara had startled when he had called out a few minutes before. So deafness couldn't be the reason he wasn't talking. Maybe he really was just shy above average. Deidara started to wipe his hands on his pants, trying to get rid of the clay that was slowly drying off. Sasori sighed and took Deidara's hand.

"Come on, let's get that mud off of you."


	5. part 5: have to tell you something

"Eh?", the teacher exclaimed as he looked at the boy's palm, "What the…?"

Deidara tried to pull back, but Sasori tightened the grip around his wrist. He stared at the tongue sticking out of the boy's hand. Wait – a tongue? He had to admit, he had never seen anything like this before.

"That's very interesting", the red head mumbled, "is that how you made those sculptures?"

He looked at Deidara, who seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Jeez, don't be so whiny", Sasori huffed, but then immediately felt sorry and let go of Deidara's hand. From time to time he forgot that they weren't shinobi yet, but still children. He sighed. "Okay, let's give you a wash already."

As Deidara seemed to feel uncomfortable with being touched, Sasori would just lead the way to the sink placed in the workshop. Hesitating for a moment, Deidara finally followed him. He stretched out his hands, and Sasori turned on the water.

Mikoto had been waiting for Itachi in front of the academy building for about ten minutes, when her son suddenly ran towards her and hugged her violently, almost pushing her over.

"Mama, Mama, guess what!", he called out, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

The black haired woman hugged her son back and smiled at him. He obviously was in a good mood.

"You had a good day?", she guessed.

Itachi nodded eagerly. "We learnt about gen-jutsu and that was pretty cool, and then I had lunch with Kisame, and then we met this boy, who is really strange and talks all the time, and then this other boy, who is even stranger and doesn't talk at all. And the teachers were really cool, especially the one who told us about nin-jutsu, I forgot his name, and he would even let us try out some weapons, that's what I always wanted to do, you know?"

"I know", Mikoto laughed at Itachi who was talking his head off. So it had been the right decision to send him to the ninja academy, after all. He had obviously enjoyed his first day, if not he wouldn't be talking so much.

"I want to go to school, too", Sasuke, who was at his mother's back as usual, squealed.

"You're too young, baka", Itachi hissed.

Sasuke pouted. He didn't like it when his brother was like that. He didn't want him to be angry with him.

"I helped Mama to do the laundry today", Sasuke said.

"So what?", Itachi replied. His little brother continued to pout.

Itachi felt bad, but he really didn't care about Sasuke at the moment. He wanted to tell his mother every single detail about the academy and his new friend, and show her what he had learnt so far. But when he wanted to go on, Mikoto put her hand on his head.

"Are you hungry?", she asked, "I bet you are. Let's go home and eat something."

Itachi agreed as he was very hungry indeed, and so they started walking.

Iruka was looking out of the window of his office, watching the parents picking up their children. It was common practice to do so on the first days, as a lot of children didn't live nearby and still had to get used to their way home. Iruka really liked to watch the scene outside. Most of the children were running towards their parents, then hugging or kissing them happily. Iruka sighed. They were so young! If he hadn't been a teacher for so long, he wouldn't believe that anyone of them would become a forceful shinobi one day. But most of them would, there was no doubt about it.

The black haired man could see the Uchiha family again, Itachi talking happily to his mother. Iruka really liked the members of this clan. Not only were they well-behaved and calm people, but also kind and loving parents. If only he had had a mother like Mikoto at this age…

Iruka was startled out of his thoughts by a sudden sound. He turned his head and became aware of Kakashi, who had come out of nowhere. Said wrapped his arms around Iruka from behind and nestled his head onto his shoulder, looking out of the window as well. "Getting sentimental again?", he asked.

"No", Iruka said with a smile, "I'm fine." But Kakashi could clearly see the sad expression on his lover's face when he turned his head back. He knew that Iruka had lost his parents when he was five, so he must have been all alone on his first academy day. Watching all the parents with their children certainly reminded him of his awful childhood. He placed a little kiss on his cheek.

"Some of them are going home on their own", Iruka said, "I hope they'll be alright."

"They sure live nearby", Kakashi tried to calm him down, "my father wouldn't pick me up after school, either, when I was a child, as our flat was just a few steps away from the academy."

"I guess you're right", Iruka finally agreed, but he still sounded saddened.

Kakashi ran his fingers through Iruka's black hair that had come loose from his ponytail. He wanted to kiss him again when his lover continued to talk.

"Have you seen that blond boy?", the black haired asked, pointing at a spot on the yard. Kakashi looked out of the window again and immediately recognized the student.

"Yeah, I've seen him at lunchtime", he answered. Indeed, this kid had been lurking around in a way that appeared strange to him, as he was avoiding any conversation with other children. But Kakashi didn't want Iruka to worry, so he decided not to tell him about that yet.

"I've met him and his mother in the morning", Iruka said, "she seemed to be very annoyed about him. Later on, he was in my history class, but he didn't pay any attention. I wonder what's wrong with him."

"Maybe he and his mother just had a fight in the morning", Kakashi guessed.

Iruka always worried too much about other people, but Kakashi didn't want to talk about that kid at the moment. Actually, he didn't want to talk at all. Slowly, he let his right hand slide along Iruka's spine. He grinned when he saw his lover shudder at the pleasant sensation. Kakashi had found out just a few days ago how much Iruka appreciated this particular touch. He let his fingers crawl down his sides quickly and put his hands under his uniform, gripping him tightly again.

"Kakashi, we're still at the academy", Iruka said, "you can't do that here… what if someone opens the door right now?"

"I locked it", Kakashi mumbled, pressing against his lover firmly.

"You did what? You locked the door?", Iruka asked unbelievingly, "Did you come here just in order to… haa!"

Kakashi had started to kiss his neck, one of his most sensitive spots. Iruka hadn't been in a relationship for years, so his body had just started to get used to being touched again. He gasped when he felt Kakashi's hands trying to yank his pants off.

"Kakashi-sensei", he panted, "please stop…"

He started to feel sick. He didn't want this to happen, not here, not now. He wasn't ready for it yet. He turned his head and looked at Kakashi. The gray haired let go of Iruka's pants and stroked his cheek softly.

"My, those sad eyes", he whispered and removed his other hand from Iruka's body, "I'm so sorry."

A faint smile flashed over Iruka's face. He knew that Kakashi was crazy about him. He had even started to work as a teacher like him just to be around him. Most of the time they were together, he couldn't keep his hands off him. But despite everything, he had understood Iruka's feelings from the first day, and he had never forced him to do anything he didn't want.

The black haired looked into Kakashi's eyes, trying to fight back his tears. How much must he mean to Kakashi if he even suppressed his own desires? It wasn't easy for him to believe that there was someone that gentle and respectful towards him – but there he was, standing in front of him, tenderly caressing his cheek.

Iruka turned around completely and pulled Kakashi close to him, sinking into a deep kiss. The gray haired returned it with surprise, wrapping his arms around his lover's neck.

"How…?", Iruka whispered when they broke away from each other.

"How?", Kakashi asked, "How – what?"

"How do I deserve this?", Iruka asked in a whisper and averted his eyes, "Why are you so gentle?"

Kakashi sighed and tilted Iruka's head up.

"Because I love you, you little baka."

"Itachi-saaan?"

The raven haired boy looked up from the book he was reading. His little brother had entered the room, his hand still clutching the door handle as if uncertain if he was allowed to come in.

"What is it, Sasuke?", Itachi asked.

The smaller boy blushed. "I wondered if you…", he started, then obviously lost heart.

Itachi closed his book and put it away. "Just come out with it", he said.

Sasuke smiled and let go of the door handle, then jumped onto the bed Itachi was lying on. "Pleeeaaase", he begged, "will you tell me what happened in the academy? I know you wanted to wait until Papa is home, but I'm so curious, so… please?"

Itachi laughed. What a nosy little boy. "Alright", he said, what do you want to know?"

Sasuke was beaming with joy. "What did you do in class?", he asked.

"Well, a lot of things", Itachi started, "first, we learnt something about chakra."

"What's that?", Sasuke interrupted.

"Umm… it's a kind of energy that runs through your body."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Through mine as well?"

"Yes, I think so", Itachi guessed.

"I see", his little brother said, "and then?"

"Then we had a history lesson."

"And then?"

"Then we learnt something about gen-jutsu."

"What's that?"

"Phew", Itachi groaned, "that's too difficult to explain." How was Sasuke supposed to understand something Itachi himself had heard of for the first time today?

"I see", Sasuke continued, "and then?"

Itachi giggled. "What kind of talking is that?", he asked, "You only asking me _and then, and then, and then_?"

Sasuke gave him a happy look. "Yes", he responded, completely satisfied with their conversation so far.

"Then I had lunch with Kisame and Hidan."

Sasuke pouted. "You're always with Kisame", he said.

"That's because he's my friend", Itachi explained.

"But I don't like him."

"It doesn't matter whether you like him. I do, so he's my friend."

"But he's cheeky."

"So are you, little brother."

"I'm not!", Sasuke yelled, "And he's also wild and mean and rude and stupid, and I'm not at all."

Itachi only laughed at his foolish little brother. "Don't you want to know who Hidan is?", he asked.

"No", Sasuke pouted, then stopped short and changed his mind, "yes."

At that very moment Itachi could hear the front door open. Finally, his father was home! He had waited for him all afternoon. He jumped out of the bed and ran downstairs, crashing into the tall man as he entered the house.

"Eh, Itachi-san?", Fugaku exclaimed, puzzled about his son's impetuous behavior. The elder Uchiha didn't like it when people went wild, especially his sons.

"Hello, Papa", Itachi said and backed up towards the hall, "look what I learnt at the academy today!"

With his eyes flashing red within a second, Fugaku had dashed forward, reaching out his hand for the silver object flying through the air with a whirring sound right before it could hit his son.

Both the boys were frozen. Sasuke was trembling with fear, realizing that his father's hand was holding a shuriken right in front of his forehead. Blood was dripping from his fingers clutching the metal weapon. Itachi didn't dare to breathe.

Fugaku lost his temper. "Is that what they teach you at the academy?!", he yelled at Itachi, "How to kill your family members?!"


	6. part 6: father and son

Itachi had turned pale. A silent tear ran down his cheek when he realized what he had done.

"What's gotten into you, eh?!", his father screamed at him, his eyes glaring at him with his sharingan still activated.

Itachi still didn't move. The world around him started to blur when his father continued to yell at him.

"Those are dangerous!", Fugaku shouted, looking at the shuriken in his hand that had cut his fingers. He hadn't been able to clutch it in its middle but had grabbed its sharp edges. The elder Uchiha was trembling with excitement. For a moment, he had imagined his little son dead. He would definitely have been, as the shuriken had been aimed straight at his head. Fortunately, Fugaku was a high ranked ninja who would never let his guard down, even if he was in his own house. He hadn't even seen the weapon in Itachi's hand when he had come in, but his acute senses had caused him to activate his sharingan just at the right moment. He couldn't believe this. He couldn't believe his son had thrown a shuriken. Inside the house, without even looking where he was aiming. He just couldn't believe at all.

Itachi wanted to back up when his father came towards him, but his body wouldn't move. He closed his eyes, expecting his father to strike out at him within the next seconds, but he didn't. The Uchiha patriarch had never beaten one of his children so far, and he would never do, even if he really felt like it at the moment.

"I'm so disappointed in you, son."

Itachi opened his eyes again, they were filled with tears now. His father's words hurt more than any slap across his face could ever do. He couldn't look him in the eye anymore.

"I'm sorry", the boy whispered before he ran out of the house and into the darkness of the night.

Mikoto quickly picked up Sasuke, who was so shocked he didn't even cry. She pressed him tightly against her, stroking his head to calm him down, although her own heart was racing. Her husband's eyes had flashed back to their normal color. He was looking at the weapon in his hand.

"Where the heck did he get that?", Fugaku asked.

"He told me they tried out some weapons at the academy", Mikoto answered, "maybe one of the teachers gave it to him?"

"I can't believe this", Fugaku yelled, "a teacher giving weapons to inexperienced students on their first day? I bet it was that red haired brat from the sand village. He appeared odd to me from the beginning."

"I don't know", Mikoto shrugged. She hadn't seen any teacher with red hair so far. Itachi hadn't told her about his teachers yet, as she wanted him to wait until his father was home. If only she had listened to him…

"I have to take care of those injuries", Fugaku sighed after a while, looking at his bruised hand. It didn't hurt much, but it was still bleeding.

"They're not that bad", Mikoto said, "first of all you have to take care of your son."

Fugaku gave her a surprised look. The little black haired boy was clinging to her, neither crying nor trembling anymore.

"I don't mean Sasuke", Mikoto huffed, "I mean Itachi, you baka."

"Itachi?", Fugaku asked. He had no idea what his wife was talking about.

"Yes", Mikoto continued, "he ran away, in case you didn't notice. I'm sure he's frightened. He didn't intend to attack his brother, after all."

"I know he didn't", Fugaku hissed, "that's what's most annoying, after all. He didn't look where he was aiming, he didn't even think about it, he just threw this goddamned shuriken across the room."

Mikoto sighed. Her husband was right, of course he was. He hadn't expected her son to do anything like this, either. But at the moment, she was worried sick about him.

"Please", she said, "it's already getting dark, and I don't want him to be in the woods on his own. Who knows where he's heading? Please go and bring him back, will you?"

Like usual, Fugaku couldn't deny her request and left the house as well.

Itachi woke up when it started to rain. He looked around to see where he was. Dark trees surrounded him, and he was tired and cold. Slowly he remembered what had happened. He had been running blindly for a while, not knowing where he was going. Out of breath, he had tumbled onto the muddy ground, hitting his head when he fell down, so he must have passed out.

The black haired sat up, tears still running down his face. Angrily he wiped them away, but he couldn't stop weeping. What a pathetic little boy he was, after all. He had wanted to impress his father, but almost killed his brother instead. New tears came to his eyes when he thought about it again. He hadn't intended to aim at Sasuke. Of course not. He hadn't noticed that he was there. Even if his brother could be a pain in the neck sometimes, he would never dream of doing him any harm.

The memory of his father's angry eyes came to his mind again. If he hadn't been there, Sasuke would be dead now. Dead. Killed by his own brother. Itachi curled up in a ball with his back against a tree, a choking sob escaping his throat. He was sure his parents and his brother hated him from now on. He was a disgrace to his clan… He'd better stay here for tonight…

Itachi startled when he suddenly heard something behind him.

"Who's that?", a voice whispered. Itachi froze. He didn't dare to turn around.

"I don't know", a second voice answered.

"He looks sad", the first voice whispered again.

"He looks mad", the second voice echoed spitefully.

Itachi concentrated to find out where the voices came from. If he wasn't wrong, they came from above. Some people must be sitting on the trees behind him. He slowly turned his head and looked up, focusing on the sounds. As the talking continued, he was able to detect a pair of yellowish eyes glowing in the dark.

"We should ask him if he needs help", the voice Itachi had heard first said.

The Uchiha boy tried to concentrate more and after his eyes had gotten used to the darkness he was finally able to see the shape of a person. The yellow eyed was sitting on the branch of a tree not too far away from him.

"We should kick his ass", the second voice snarled. This one scared Itachi, while the other one sounded quite friendly. It was too dark to tell which voice belonged to the figure he had spotted. He looked around to find the second person he had heard, but he couldn't see anything.

"Who are you?", Itachi asked and stood up, clenching his fists, "If you want to kick my ass, you have to show yourself first!"

He remembered what he had been told today at the academy. He concentrated on the energy flowing through his body, trying to bring a short amount of it to his eyes, and finally it worked. For a few seconds he could see clearly through the darkness, realizing that the person on the tree was a boy with short frizzy hair, not much taller than him.

"You're still a kid", Itachi said before his eyesight went back to normal.

"Of course", the friendly voice responded. So the boy didn't want to attack him.

"Why are you crying?", the yellow eyed boy asked.

"Boo hoo, he got lost", the angry voice hissed, causing Itachi to startle again.

"Shut up", the boy called out.

"Who are you?", the Uchiha boy asked again, searching the trees for the other person. The second voice appeared to belong to a kid as well, but Itachi wasn't absolutely sure about it.

"I saw you at the academy today", the boy on the branch said.

So he was a ninja student, and his friend hiding somewhere in the woods probably was as well. Itachi expected to be attacked from behind within the next seconds and tried to prepare himself.

"I like you", the yellow eyed boy continued.

"I don't like him", the other voice echoed again, "let's screw him up already."

"If you don't stop talking big, I'm gonna beat you up", Itachi shouted angrily. He usually wasn't interested in fights at all, but after all that happened today he didn't care.

At that very moment, a familiar voice called out Itachi's name. The boy on the tree jumped to his feet and backed up, quickly making his way through the treetops like the adult shinobi used to do.

A second later Fugaku appeared in front of his son. "There you are", he said with a sigh of relief.

Itachi wanted to hug his father at first, but then remembered that he had been angry with him when he left, and stood still. To his surprise, Fugaku kneeled down and clasped him in his arms. Itachi's eyes filled with tears again due to the unexpected body contact, and he wrapped his arms around his father's neck.

"You sure run fast", the elder Uchiha said, "I didn't think you got so far away from the house. I was looking for you for about one hour, but I wasn't able to sense your presence at all. Didn't you hear me call you?"

Itachi shook his head.

"Are you hurt?", Fugaku asked.

Itachi repeated to shake his head. He could hardly speak. "I'm sorry", he whispered, sobbing into his father's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, too", Fugaku said, "I shouldn't have yelled at you. Even if what you did was stupid. Very stupid. And very dangerous, too."

"I didn't want to hurt him", Itachi cried. At least he could bear looking into his father's eyes again.

"I know", Fugaku said, gently wiping away Itachi's tears.

"You're soaked", he stated when he realized that his son was shaking with cold, "we'd better go home now."

He turned around, indicating that he wanted to give Itachi a piggy-back like in former times. Gratefully, the black haired boy climbed onto his father's back and clung to him. Realizing just now how tired he was, he nestled his head onto Fugaku's shoulder, already starting to doze off when the tall man started to walk.


	7. part 7: tipsy, if anything

"What's wrong?"

Iruka looked up, giving a puzzled look to his counterpart.

"Nothing", he answered the question that had came out of the blue, then continued to read the menu he was holding. He could feel that he was stared at. It felt as if his opponent's eyes were burning a hole into his forehead. He looked up again.

"What is it, Iruka?", he was asked again.

"Nothing", Iruka repeated and smiled, "I just can't decide what to eat, as usual."

Of course he knew that wasn't the answer his companion wanted to hear. Kakashi and he had gone to their favorite restaurant after finishing today's work. He knew that Kakashi wanted to talk, but Iruka was hungry, first of all.

"Have you decided yet?", he asked the gray haired male who was sitting opposite him at the small wooden table.

"Yes", Kakashi replied tonelessly.

"So, what are you going to order?", Iruka asked, smiling happily at his lover. He liked eating out, so why shouldn't he be happy?

Kakashi sighed, giving a worried look at him. "Please, don't wear that fake smile in front of me", he said.

Iruka's cheerful expression vanished from his face and was replaced by an angry one. "I'm fine", he huffed and stared at his menu again.

Why did Kakashi always have to notice when he wasn't feeling well? He didn't want to talk, he wanted to eat something. Iruka tried to concentrate on the menu, but the letters were blurring in front of his eyes. Suddenly Kakashi grabbed Iruka's hand.

"It's about the students, isn't it, Iruka-sensei?"

The black haired didn't answer.

"The students you watched this afternoon", Kakashi continued, "they reminded you of your own past, didn't they?"

The teacher sighed and put the menu down. Very well then, obviously there was no way of escaping this.

"Kakashi-sensei", Iruka said, „why are you so persistent? This evening started so good, why do you always have to go on and on?"

"I can see you aren't feeling very well", Kakashi explained, "and I want to know why."

Although there were a lot of people sitting at the tables around them, he took Iruka's head in his hands and tilted it up before he continued.

"I can't stand that sorrowful expression on your face", he said, "and I can't stand looking into your sad eyes. I want to make you happy, but I don't know how. That's why I want to know what you're thinking and what you're feeling. And I want to know what makes you think and feel that way. I want to know what you went through. Actually, I want to know everything about you."

Iruka had to fight his tears back.

"Because I love you", Kakashi continued, "I really do."

Iruka gave him a faint smile. "It's so hard to talk about it", he whispered, "I will tell you everything you want to know, I promise. But not now. I can't. I just want to have a nice evening. Just you and me and some food. Okay?"

"Okay", Kakashi sighed, "take all the time you need."

Iruka couldn't resist but gave Kakashi a shy kiss.

"Thank you so much."

Sasori yawned and bent his head to the right in order to crack his neck. He had been sitting here for hours, and now he felt all stiff. He cracked his neck to the other side as well, relieving it from the painful pressure. If only his body wouldn't cause him so much trouble.

He sometimes envied his puppets. Their bodies were perfect. They felt no pain, and even if a part of their body got damaged, it could be replaced easily. By contrast, he had to take so much care of his human body. He tended to collapse easily when it was too hot and he had always had troubles with his back, which wasn't the best basis for being a shinobi, after all.

Sasori was in the library of the academy, stacks of books and several scrolls spread on the desk in front of him. There was still so much left to learn about this village. He glimpsed at his watch and sighed. Already on his first day he had overdone things. He really had to go home now. But there was one thing that he wanted to know before he left. He took one of the books he hadn't read so far and leafed through it, searching for a particular article. He didn't know where to find the information he needed, but a book called "signs and symbols" possibly was a good choice. He was looking for that strange symbol the foul-mouthed boy of his art class had drawn today. Sasori didn't remember exactly how it looked, but he guessed that if he saw it in a book, he would recognize it. It was kind of a triangular shape enclosed by a circle, if he remembered correctly. Damnit, if only he had given it a closer look.

In the book there were information about the symbols of the five great nations and their villages, about several clans and families and their emblems, and even about hand signs and seals. The red haired shinobi had no idea where to look for the particular symbol, though. He tried to remember the boy's surname, but failed. If only he wasn't so curious! He browsed through the book again, looking for a clan featuring silver hair and crimson eyes, but after a few minutes he stopped. Not every clan carried characteristics related to appearance. There were also families whose members didn't resemble each other at all. Sasori had to admit he was trying to find a needle in a haystack. Maybe the easiest thing to do was to ask the boy himself about the symbol the other day.

That was it for today. Sasori put away the book and straightened himself, causing some cracking noises along his spine. Jeez, he really had to do something about that, those sounds didn't seem normal at all. He liked the feeling of it, though.

Even if there were enough people working at the library who would put them away the next day, Sasori put the books and scrolls back onto the shelves before he left. He hated things lying around. Slowly the red head put on his robe and his scarf, the only things he had taken with him from his village. Apart from his puppets, of course. He could have never left them behind. But his long brown cloak and the ginger scarf were the only things reminding him of where he came from, as the people of Konoha used to wear clothes very different to them of Suna. The robe looked a bit tattered after the many years he had been wearing it, but he didn't mind. He was an eye-catching individual, anyway, with his red hair and his delicate features.

It was pretty warm outside, although it was very late. He liked the weather here. In his home village, it used to be hot and dusty, not to tell of the many sandstorms that occurred every now and then, forcing people to seek shelter at once and stopping them from whatever they were doing. As a child, Sasori had one day waited three hours for a sandstorm to abate after he went to do some shopping for his mother. Of course she was worried sick, as it was very dangerous to be outside during a sandstorm, especially for kids. Over the years, Sasori had gotten used to them, he now even liked them. It was nice to see something different, though. Konoha, according to its name, was full of trees and flowers, and there were a lot of birds and other animals living in the woods. The only creatures he had ever seen in Suna were snakes and scorpions.

Just at the moment Sasori was unlocking the door of his flat, the silence he had been enjoying on his way home was broken. Laughter and yelling could be heard all through the hall, slowly getting louder. Sasori turned round and saw two familiar figures turning the corner, both of them stumbling and staggering their way up to the door next to Sasori's apartment. The red haired shinobi couldn't help it but chuckled before he quickly entered his flat. So his assumption had been right.

"That was a nice evening, wasn't it, Kakashi-san?", Iruka exclaimed, his face all flushed and his eyes sparkling with joy.

"Yes, it was", Kakashi answered, "I'm glad we went."

"What a pity we had to go yet", Iruka pouted.

Kakashi sighed. "You said that about twenty times since we left…"

"Oh, did I?", Iruka giggled.

Kakashi grinned. He really liked it when his lover was laughing. The evening had been fun, after all. After they had had dinner, Iruka had ordered some drinks and they had started talking. No serious talking, though, not the conversation Kakashi had been waiting for so long, but at least talking. After a few glasses, Iruka had started to tell him about his students, about the routine at the academy, and about the other teachers – things Kakashi still had to get used to. He knew most of the people working at the academy, but he hadn't been in touch with them as much as Iruka. The black haired teacher wasn't very outspoken, and especially in the last few days he had appeared rather absent-minded to Kakashi, so he was glad he had finally talked to him again.

Iruka almost tumbled over when Kakashi stopped in front of their apartment. He had been clinging to the gray haired shinobi tightly all their way home.

"Eh, watch out, baka", Kakashi said, then gave him a meaningful look.

"Keys?", he asked.

Iruka smiled at him like an idiot. "Huh?"

"Keeeys?", Kakashi drawled.

"Keys?", Iruka asked, "What keys?"

Kakashi laughed. Apparently Iruka had had more drinks than he had thought. But he was in a silly mood as well. "Apartment? Door? Keys…?", he said as he pointed at the wooden door behind him.

"Ahh", Iruka finally got it, then giggled, "I don't know where they are."

Kakashi boggled. "You haven't lost them, have you?"

"Nooo", Iruka chuckled.

"Stop fooling around, I'm tired", Kakashi said, but couldn't help laughing.

He hadn't seen Iruka that playful for a while, so he went for it. The gray haired pulled his lover close to him, his hands diving into Iruka's pockets without warning. He could feel his heated body through the cloth of his uniform. The black haired twitched at the sudden sensation, then crashed his lips against Kakashi's. His counterpart pulled back, too surprised to return the kiss. Finally, he had found the keys, and yanked them out of Iruka's pockets.

"Got it", he smirked and turned around in order to unlock the door. Two hands gripped around his neck tightly from behind, almost choking him.

"I loooove you", Iruka hiccupped, clinging to his partner's back.

"I know", Kakashi gasped, finally opening the door and stumbling into the apartment. Iruka let go of him and both of them took off their sandals and headbands.

"And now", the black haired called out cheerfully, "I want to get drunk with you!"

"You already are", Kakashi stated.

"Ah, rubbish", Iruka played it down, "tipsy, if anything. I'm just having a good time."

The gray haired male sighed quietly. He was already feeling guilty for not having stopped Iruka from ordering one drink after another at the restaurant – but he didn't want to ruin the mood, so he remained silent when his partner went into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of wine.

Kakashi was feeling a bit dizzy himself, so he couldn't tell how drunk his partner actually was. But Iruka used to be a reasonable person, so maybe Kakashi was worrying too much again.

Iruka handed him a glass of wine with a smile. He was always smiling, that was the reason most people liked him. He always seemed to be in a good mood. But if you looked at his face more carefully, you could detect two clouded dark orbs full of pain and sorrow. Even if he was grinning from ear to ear, his eyes weren't able to lie. But right now, they weren't dull at all, but sparkling with joy. Kakashi smiled back happily. His lover really seemed to be enjoying himself.

Iruka downed his drink in no time, then quickly filled his glass again.

"Please don't overdo it", Kakashi asked, sipping his wine.

"I'm fine", Iruka said, his voice calm and self-assured. He put the glass back on the table and started to undo the zipper of his uniform.

"It's hot in here, isn't it?", he asked and pulled his jacket off, exposing a tight black polo-neck jersey. Kakashi was wearing one, too, it was part of their shinobi uniform. He had always disliked this piece of clothing, until he saw Iruka wearing it. He looked so I_good/I_.

Iruka was talking his head off while drinking one glass after another. His gray haired partner was getting tired after a while. He could have listened to Iruka all night, but right now he felt like going to bed. He was slowly dozing off on the couch, when he suddenly felt Iruka's hot breath on his cheek. His black haired partner had come over and sat next to him.

"I love you so much", he slurred, then planted a smacking kiss onto Kakashi's cheek. The gray haired turned his head and gently pulled his lover into a proper kiss. When they broke away, Iruka's eyes were hazy. He laid down onto the couch next to his partner, his head rested on Kakashi's lap. He had stopped talking all of a sudden. Kakashi wanted to ask if he was feeling sick, when Iruka started to mumble something.

"Could you…", he asked shyly, "could you please do it again?"

_IIt/I_? Kakashi wondered for a few seconds, but then suddenly remembered. He stretched out his hand and started to stroke Iruka's back, his fingers slowly creeping down his spine. The black haired shivered with delight, a view that made Kakashi smile.

"You really like that, don't you?"

"Yeah", Iruka sighed, "you bet."

The gray haired could feel his lover's body relax under his touch. Iruka was so adorable. Kakashi didn't know what exactly made him that crazy about this young guy. His skinny, but still muscular body? His soft skin? His straight black hair, which was all messy at the moment? His dark eyes? His voice? The way he laughed? The way he started to blush when someone paid him a compliment? Actually, Kakashi liked everything.

Iruka had closed his eyes, breathing evenly. Kakashi removed his hand in order to put his empty glass onto the table, then watched his sleeping boyfriend. He looked so – cute? Was that the word Kakashi had been looking for? But he had been wrong. Iruka wasn't sleeping yet.

"Keep touching me", the black haired male begged.

Kakashi's hands felt so good on his body. Iruka couldn't remember anyone had ever touched him this gently. He was used to being grabbed by his wrists and pulled along, being hauled to his feet roughly when he had fallen down, being pulled by his hair in order to look his teacher in the eye. He had been causing trouble all the time as a child. He had run away several times, played tricks on the teachers every day, and hardly listened to anyone, just to arouse attention. He had succeeded – people had noticed him, but they hadn't respected him at all. There had never been anyone so far who made him feel comfortable, someone who would take care with his body, someone who would even stop if he asked him to. Kakashi did. But right now, Iruka didn't want him to stop at all.

A shiver ran through his body when he felt Kakashi's warm hands on his back again. He was so soft! Iruka started to feel dizzy. He had to admit, he had drunk too much, of course he had.

Kakashi was absolutely right about him. He hadn't been feeling very well for a while. He didn't know why, though. Memories just kept returning to his mind from time to time, memories he had tried to get rid off years ago, and when they suddenly popped up, they smacked him down at once, making him feel bad all day, all week. Drinking was one possibility to deal with it. Iruka knew that it was wrong, and he did it very rarely, but – every time he did it, he actually liked it. It was as if alcohol loosened his tongue. If he had had two or three glasses, he was able to express what he was thinking, how he was feeling, and what he wanted. Maybe one day he would learn to do so without getting drunk before.

Kakashi's hands stopped. "I'm so tired", he yawned, "let's go to bed."

Iruka sat up abruptly and slipped onto Kakashi's lap, looking into his partner's dull eyes. "Please", he begged with a desperate look, "keep touching me."

He bent forward and nestled his head on Kakashi's shoulder, then slowly started to kiss his neck. The gray haired panted when he felt his lover's hot tongue touch his skin. His tiredness seemed to vanish instantly. He knew that Iruka was drunk, but he had waited for this so long. He couldn't help but pull Iruka's jersey up to his ribs eagerly, his hands returning to his back again, sliding up quickly across his soft skin. The black haired wrapped his arms around his lover and pressed against him firmly, his body aching for more. Kakashi let his hands wander across Iruka's heated body, getting more and more excited.

Iruka was trembling under his touch, panting heavily into his ear. He could barely breathe. Kakashi's hands were all over him, sending shivers through his body. He wanted them to stay there forever.

"Let's go to bed", Kakashi repeated and wanted to get up, but Iruka brought their lips together in a deep kiss so suddenly that both of them fell onto the couch again. Iruka tasted of wine, sweet and sparkling. When they broke away from each other, Kakashi flipped him over quickly and bent over him, looking into his glassy eyes. Iruka reached out and pulled off Kakashi's jacket and shirt hastily.

"Someone's impatient", Kakashi smirked and pinned his lover to the couch firmly.

"Please", Iruka begged, trying to break free.

"What are you pleading for?", Kakashi grinned at the black haired, who was squirming beneath him.

Iruka's excitement grew when he felt Kakashi's tight grip around his wrists. He kept holding him down, but he was still so gentle with him, watching his every movement to see if he still liked it. When Kakashi started to run his tongue down his body, Iruka felt like he was going crazy.

"Haa… Kakashi-sensei", he moaned, "please…"

The gray haired stopped and eyed his counterpart. "Are you sure you want this?", he asked.

"Yeah", Iruka panted, his eyes flickering.

"Because", Kakashi continued and let go of Iruka's hands, "you're drunk…"

"Whatever", Iruka said and pulled off his jersey quickly.

"And this afternoon you didn't want me to…"

"Stop talking", Iruka whined and pulled Kakashi close to him, pressing his heated body against him.

When Iruka kissed him again, Kakashi couldn't hold back anymore. He had been pushed away so often by him within the last weeks, and now his lover was I_begging/I_ him to do what he had always wanted. He broke away from the kiss and yanked Iruka's pants off quickly. Kakashi didn't care anymore if he was drunk or not. He wanted him so bad…

The black haired male gasped when he felt his lover's tongue go to work. Kakashi spread his legs further apart and gripped his hips to make sure he was in full control of his partner now. Iruka arched his back, his hands trying to get hold of something, finally clutching one of the pillows that were lying on the couch.

He whined when Kakashi suddenly lifted his head.

"Don't stop", he begged, fidgeting.

"Patience", Kakashi smirked while his fingers were creeping up Iruka's sides. He loved to tease him from time to time, even if he himself was excited as well. He made his way up to Iruka's face kissing him all over, then eagerly forced his tongue into his lover's mouth again. He broke away gasping when Iruka lifted his leg. The black haired smirked.

"Seems you're all ready, too", he said and gave Kakashi's pants a tug.

The gray haired pushed Iruka's hand away roughly. If he kept touching him there, he wouldn't be able to hold back any longer. Kakashi sat up and started stroking his lover's thighs, enjoying the moans he earned for that with a gleeful smile. Then he started to take off his own pants slowly, watching his lover's flushed face with interest.

"Hurry", Iruka whined. He tried to pull Kakashi close to him, but was pinned to the couch again.

"Shush", Kakashi whispered and grabbed his lover's wrists tightly, forcing him into a deep kiss again. Then he thrust in quickly, holding down his partner who was writhing under his weight. Iruka stopped struggling when he felt his lover inside him, completely abandoning himself to the feeling. He had never been so close to somebody for ages, and he enjoyed every single second of it. He could feel Kakashi's tongue run across his neck again, his hot breath hitting his sensitive skin.

"Move", Iruka begged, bucking his hips eagerly.

Kakashi let go of his hands and did as he wished, gently rocking Iruka's body. The black haired grabbed Kakashi's shoulders and pulled him close to him. Then he wrapped his legs around his waist, causing him to thrust in deeper. He couldn't help but moan at the intense feeling, clutching tightly to Kakashi's hot body. He knew there were some spots that made him almost go crazy with pleasure when touched, and Kakashi kept brushing against them right now.

Iruka screamed out when his lover's hand suddenly wandered down his body and wrapped around him. He couldn't hold it anymore but released all over Kakashi's hand, moaning his name breathless, his fingers clawing his counterpart's shoulders.

The gray haired smirked at his lover's intense reaction, then thrust in a few more times before he climaxed as well and slumped onto the couch next to his partner.

"Man, you almost killed me", Iruka said when he had recovered his breath, "don't you dare to torture me like that ever again."

Kakashi smiled. "You seemed to like it, actually."

"Of course I liked it", Iruka moaned, "more than anything else I've done so far. But the next time you try to tease me like that, I'm going to bite and scratch and kick you."

"You already did", Kakashi chuckled, exposing his shoulders to the black haired.

Iruka blushed when he saw the red marks on his lover's body.

"I… I'm sorry", he stumbled.

"You don't have to apologize", Kakashi said and pulled his partner close to him, "you look cute when you go wild."

He pulled Iruka into a soft kiss, running his hands through his black hair.

When he lifted his head, he caught a glimpse at the clock. "Jeez, we really need to go to bed now", he said, but didn't get up. He let his eyes wander across his lover lying beside him. His face was still flushed.

"Looks like your couch needs a new cover", Kakashi chuckled.

"Yeah, probably", Iruka mumbled. He closed his eyes, starting to feel very tired all of a sudden. Kakashi's hands were stroking his sweaty body slightly, not in a teasing but rather relaxing way now. Iruka snuggled up to him, placing one of his shy kisses on Kakashi's red lips again.

"Oi, don't fall asleep already", the gray haired said and nudged his partner's cheek, "you can't sleep here on the couch."

But the black haired was too tired to move. A surrendering sigh was the last thing he heard before dozing off.


	8. part 8: remarkable encounters

When Iruka turned his alarm off the next morning, his head was aching badly, and he felt like dying of thirst. He realized that he was lying in his bed, fully dressed in his sleeping clothes and covered by some blankets. He wondered how he had managed to move here yesterday. Kakashi must have put him to bed. Said was lying behind him, one arm tightly wrapped around Iruka's waist, snoring slightly. As usual, he hadn't heard the beeping of Iruka's alarm clock – or he had just ignored it. That was one of the reasons he was always late. The black haired felt so comfortable he huddled up against his gray haired partner again instead of getting up, although it was about time. He yawned and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep again for a few more minutes. He tried to moisten his dry mouth, but failed. It couldn't be helped, he really had to get up now and drink something. When he started to move, Kakashi woke up as well. Iruka turned around in order to give him a short kiss. His lover returned the kiss even before he opened his eyes.

"Good morning, cutie", he mumbled.

"Cutie?", Iruka frowned, but didn't get any reply. Kakashi yawned and looked at the clock.

"Eh? You still in bed?", he asked, giving Iruka a quizzical look.

"I was about to get up", Iruka explained, escaping from Kakashi's grip and bouncing out of the bed. "I don't want to go to work today", he lamented, more speaking to himself than to his partner. But of course the gray haired had heard it.

"Eh?", Kakashi gaped, "That coming from you?" He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was still sleeping, but when he opened them again, he could clearly see his partner head for the bathroom and then heard him turn the water on. When Iruka came back a few minutes later, he was wiping his mouth with his sleeve. His eyes looked tired and red, and he was rather stumbling than walking, a view that made Kakashi smirk.

"Hung over?", he chuckled.

Iruka blushed. "Shut up", he said, "and get out of bed, you lazy bum."

"Way too early", Kakashi mumbled and hid under his covers.

Itachi was lying in his bed, feeling cold and miserable. His father had put him to bed straight away after they had returned, as he was tired to death. He had fallen asleep immediately, but now he felt as if he hadn't been sleeping at all. His eyes were burning, and he felt all shaky and numb. It was completely silent in the room, which was odd. Itachi turned around and found the other side of the bed empty. A silent tear started to run down the black haired boy's cheek when he noticed that his brother wasn't there. It was still dark outside and nobody was up yet, so there was no doubt that Sasuke was spending the night somewhere else.

Itachi couldn't remember one single night he hadn't been at his brother's side, apart from the nights he had slept over at a friend's house. Sometimes Sasuke would also crawl into his parents' bed when he was scared by a nightmare, but most of the days Itachi woke up next to him. Itachi supposed Sasuke was afraid of him and didn't want to sleep in one and the same bed with him anymore. More tears started to run down the boy's cheeks. It was his own fault, after all.

A few hours later, Itachi was sitting in the shade of a tree together with Kisame. His friend was talking his head off. They had just had a math lesson, and he couldn't take his eyes off that odd boy with the black mask he had already seen yesterday.

"Ah, today it's not ramen", the blue-skinned boy stated happily when he unpacked his lunch, "thank God. You wanna try some?"

Itachi shook his head. He was struggling to get his own lunch down. Kisame shrugged and started munching. Itachi wondered if his friend was able to do anything without making noise. He had a strong voice, and he caused uproar wherever he would go. He even failed at eating in silence. Itachi didn't mind, though, he just wondered.

"Oi, you listening to me?", Kisame called out when he saw his buddy stare up to the sky.

"Yes, I am", Itachi replied. Of course he was. He always listened to what people said. He just wasn't in the mood to talk back.

"What's wrong, Itachi-san?", Kisame asked, frowning, "You've been so quiet all day."

"I'm always quiet", Itachi said.

"Yeah, you are", Kisame agreed, "but you seem so… absent-minded today."

Itachi lifted his head, surprised that Kisame's vocabulary included a word like this. He wasn't stupid, but he didn't care much about his language and expression.

"I don't want to look at your miserable face all day", Kisame said, "so tell me what's wrong."

Itachi sighed. Kisame was his best friend, after all.

"I threw a shuriken at my brother yesterday", he mumbled.

"Eh? Say what?", Kisame gaped, "Did you hit him?" His eyes were sparkling with I_fascination/I_, not shock.

"Thank God, no!", Itachi yelled, "I missed!"

"Too bad", Kisame shrugged.

Itachi became angry and got up. "He would be dead if I had hit him!", he shouted, "You mean it's a pity I didn't kill him?!"

"It's a pity you I_missed/I_", Kisame snarled and jumped to his feet as well, "I don't care if you killed him or not!"

Itachi clenched his teeth. "You don't have any siblings, have you?"

"Hell no!", Kisame huffed, "And I'm frigging glad I don't!"

For a moment, Itachi thought about punching his counterpart, but then he just sighed. It wasn't worth it. He was feeling bad enough yet, he didn't want to fight his best friend.

"I'm sorry", the black haired boy said and slumped to the ground again.

"What for?", Kisame asked, puzzled, "For yelling at me?" He laughed and sat down again. "That doesn't bother me, you know. My family members are yelling all the time."

"I can imagine that", Itachi chuckled.

At least, there was one person left who wasn't mad at him. He felt the urge to give Kisame a hug, but before he could think about it more, he was hugged himself from behind violently. When he turned his head, he looked straight into two joyful, crimson eyes.

"Yuck, Hidan, take your filthy hands off me", Kisame huffed and pushed the boy who had grabbed at him as well so hard he stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground. The silver haired just laughed.

"I've finally found you!", he said and remained lying in the grass.

"No need to be so violent, though", Kisame hissed. Itachi was glad he hadn't hugged him before. He really seemed to dislike it.

Hidan sprawled out on the ground and rubbed his eyes.

"Jashin-sama, I'm so fucking tired", he yawned.

Kisame pricked his ears. "Who's Jashin?", he asked.

Hidan's eyes widened with surprise. "Jashin?", he repeated, searching for words, "Jashin… is… just… Jashin."

"What a stupid explanation is this?", Kisame snorted.

Hidan shrugged. He was tired of being asked questions about this. Just a few minutes ago this annoying red haired teacher had asked him about the symbol he had drawn yesterday. It could be seen all over in the house of Hidan's family, so it had just come to his mind when he was asked to draw something. Actually, he had no idea what the meaning of the symbol was, he only knew that it belonged to Jashin. The art teacher hadn't seemed very confident with that explanation. He would only give him a disapproving look before letting him go. It was so obvious that this red head didn't like him at all.

"One day I'll fucking beat him up", Hidan mumbled.

"Whom?", Kisame asked, "Me?"

"No", Hidan stammered, "no one. I was just thinking out loud."

The silver haired bit his lip angrily. If he only was able to keep his mouth shut from time to time. Everyone around him told him to do so, but he couldn't help it. Whatever came to his mind just slipped out of his mouth a few seconds later.

"It's about time", Itachi said and raised to his feet.

"I don't want to go back yet", Hidan whined, "I'll stay here and rest."

"Come on", Itachi said, "you can't sleep here. If the teachers find out, you'll be punished."

"I don't give a fuck", Hidan mumbled and closed his eyes again. He could hear Kisame get up as well. What a pity both of them were so keen on the lessons. The silver haired expected to be hauled to his feet and pulled along by one of them, but nothing happened. He wondered if they had decided to stay with him, after all. He opened his eyes and sat up, just to find himself sitting alone on the ground. Itachi and Kisame had gone. Hidan clenched his fists and tried to fight back his anger. Why did this always happen to him?

When Itachi entered the classroom, a familiar figure caught his eye. The shy blond boy who had run away from him yesterday was sitting in the last row, staring out of the window, nervously fiddling with a pen in his hand. Itachi was delighted when he saw there were two more vacant seats in the back row, so he walked over and sat down quickly, followed by Kisame.

"Hi", Itachi said and poked the blond on the shoulder, "remember me?"

His new neighbor turned his head quickly, and two big cerulean eyes gazed at Itachi. The black haired boy almost stopped breathing for a moment. He had never seen eyes like this before. They reminded him of the sea. They were just as blue and mysterious as the ocean. Unfortunately, the boy cast down his eyes, so that Itachi couldn't look into them for much longer.

"Remember me?", he asked again, "We met yesterday."

The blond didn't say anything, but drummed his pen on the table.

"I'm Itachi, remember?", the young Uchiha said, "But I don't know your name yet."

The blond obviously didn't get that Itachi had tried to ask him a question. He started to scribble something on his paper, but when Itachi looked closer at it, he couldn't identify any characters known to him. The boy's hands were smaller than his and looked frail. He remembered how hot they had felt when he had grabbed them yesterday. Itachi didn't know why, but he wished he could touch them again. Maybe to see those palm-mouths again.

He really wanted to be this boy's friend. The less he said, the more Itachi became curious.

"Why don't you answer, huh?", he asked the blond guy, "Are you afraid of me?"

The blond lifted his head and slowly started to shake it. Itachi smiled. He was glad that the boy wasn't afraid of him, and he was happy that he obviously was able to understand him.

"Then why don't you talk?", he continued, "Are you mute? Scared of something? Or sick?"

He tried to think of other reasons, but was interrupted by the teacher who had just come in, a good-looking woman with long, blond hair.

"Oi, look at her b… ow!"

Kisame gave Itachi an angry look. "Why'd you kick me, you baka, eh?"

"If she hears what you intended to say, you're I_dead/I_", Itachi stated. He knew her. Her name was Tsunade. She was a very skilled medical ninja who took care of injured people of the village in the first place, but her impetuous character combined with brute force also made her a very dangerous kunoichi. As Itachi had been told, she wouldn't hold back with students as well if she felt insulted. When Itachi turned his head back to his blond neighbor, he found him looking out of the window again.

"You better pay attention", he whispered and gently grabbed his wrist. He couldn't help it, he just I_had/I_ to touch that soft, hot skin again. It felt so… I_different/I._ Kisame's hands were cool and rough, and Sasuke's fingers always felt sticky, but Itachi had never touched such a delicate skin before. He wondered if the other body parts of the blond felt that hot as well.

The hand Itachi had grabbed was clenched into a fist and pulled back quickly. The black haired boy felt guilty at once. People must be grabbing the blond boy's hands all the time in order to look at his weird mouths on his palms. It was the same with Itachi's scars, two dark marks running down from his eyes to his cheeks – people kept staring at them and asked him questions about them, but he didn't know why they were there, they had always been. As palm-mouths were much stranger than scars, he supposed that the blond boy was pestered with questions about them all the time. Maybe that was the reason he didn't talk anymore.

Hidan was startled out of his sleep by a harrumphing noise.

"Oi, young man", a harsh voice called out, followed by a soft kick in his side.

The silver haired boy opened his eyes and became aware of Sasori, who was standing next to him with crossed arms, tapping his foot. Oh no, please not him.

"What are we doing here?", Sasori asked, giving Hidan one of his dirty looks again.

"I… I just fell asleep", the boy replied. Just when it came to excuses, he would run out of words, how annoying was that?

"It's just your second day here and you're already skipping lessons", the teacher continued.

"I didn't intend to skip them", Hidan called out, "I…"

"How about getting up before talking to me?", Sasori interrupted. To Hidan's surprise, the teacher stretched out his hand in order to help him up. He was raised to his feet roughly.

"Well?", the red head asked.

"I was tired", Hidan stated, giving his superior a spiteful glance, "so I f… fell asleep." He was at great pains not to swear in front of Sasori.

"Why didn't you go back to your classroom with the others?", the teacher asked.

"I was fucking left behind!", Hidan yelled, clenching his fists.

"Stop swearing, young man", Sasori said, completely calm, which made Hidan even angrier.

"You hate me", the silver haired kid huffed.

Sasori sighed. "I don't", he said, "you may be foul-mouthed, bold, and lazy, but… I don't hate you. Why do you kids always think people hate you? I don't even know you, Hidan-kun."

The teacher looked at his student who was glaring at him. Sasori chuckled. The perfect attitude for a future ninja, after all.

A second later he had pinned Hidan to the ground, kneeling on his back.

"Don't even think about it", Sasori whispered, quickly removing the kunai from the boy's hand. Of course he had anticipated Hidan's attack before he had even started moving.

"Jashin-sama, that hurts", Hidan whined, writhing beneath him.

"It's a bad idea to attack your teacher", Sasori said before he let go of him, "you better attend your lessons before you try something like this again. Now go before you miss the next one as well."


	9. part 9: at the lake

Sasori was gazing after the kid with the silver hair, who was running towards the academy building. What an annoying little brat. To attack him out of the blue with a kunai… The teacher looked at the weapon in his hand. He wondered who might have given it to the boy. He was definitely not ready to use one of them. He, Sasori, was of course able to avoid his half-baked assault, but what if he got mad at other children? That boy really had to learn to keep his temper, otherwise he would get into trouble.

The red head heaved a sigh. He hoped he hadn't hurt the boy too bad. He had acted instinctively when he was attacked, but usually his opponents were adults, not kids. Being a teacher was harder than he had thought. It was so difficult not to have prejudices about the students, especially if they belonged to a creepy religious cult.

Sasori had continued his research after Hidan had mentioned the name Jashin, and now he had also found the symbol in one of the books in the library. The boy didn't belong to a clan, he was part of a confraternity, consisting of people of different origins and ages. Hidan was probably the youngest member. There wasn't much information in the book about the belief itself, apart from rumors about bloody rituals and human sacrifices – but Sasori didn't think much of rumors.

He didn't like the kid much, though, even if he had told him he didn't hate him. Sasori had no idea how the other teachers managed to treat all their students as equal. He himself wasn't able to do so. There were kids he would never get along with, kids who were rude and stubborn, like Hidan. He didn't dislike all the kids who were rude and wild, though. Some of them had potential, like Kisame. But he liked students like Itachi better, intelligent and calm minded and not causing trouble at all. Sasori was looking forward to their training, as they were about to become one of the best shinobi of their village. But the most interesting individuals were the artists and loners. People like Sasori himself. And like Deidara.

While walking back to his workshop, the teacher wondered what was wrong with this boy. He must be having great difficulties to adjust himself to his new home. Sasori himself enjoyed exploring the village – but he was twenty, and Deidara was seven, maybe eight years old, and on top of that a very shy individual.

Sasori had reached his workshop and looked at the little owl with the dented wing. He had put it onto a shelf instead of destroying it after Deidara had left yesterday. The art teacher was still astounded. It looked so realistic, as if made by a professional sculptor, not by a child. He couldn't believe nobody had discovered the boy's talent so far. He would definitely try to help him develop it.

Realizing that he had lost himself in thoughts again, Sasori hurried to prepare for the upcoming lesson.

"Have you ever seen a boy with yellow eyes somewhere around the academy?", Itachi asked Kisame out of the blue. They had just finished their biology lesson with Tsunade and were about to leave the classroom together with some other students.

"Huh?", Kisame exclaimed and started to think about it, "Not that I remember. Who do you mean?"

"I don't know who he is", Itachi shrugged, "I saw him in the woods yesterday."

"We can go search him", Kisame asked, "What does he look like?"

"It was dark when I met him", Itachi explained, "I could only see his eyes, they were yellowish and glowing in the dark."

"Glowing yellow eyes?", Kisame chuckled, "Sure it wasn't a cat?"

"He talked to me, you baka", Itachi huffed, "he and his mate."

His blue-skinned counterpart lifted his head. "So there were two of them?"

"Yes", the young Uchiha said, "but I couldn't see the other one. It was too dark."

"Yeah, you said that already", Kisame interrupted, then frowned, "why were you in the woods at night, anyway?"

"Ah, never mind." Itachi really didn't want to get on to that subject again.

"Whatever", Kisame shrugged. He grabbed his bag and waited for his black haired friend to come along. The weather outside was sunny and warm, just right to skip homework and have some fun, in Kisame's view.

"Oi, Itachi-san", he asked, "do you wanna go swimming with me today in the afternoon?"

"I'd love to", Itachi smiled. It had been a while he had been going out with his friend, and he wasn't very keen on being around his family at the moment, anyway. But then again, he wasn't sure if his parents would allow him to go, after all what happened. "But I have to ask my parents first", he added.

"Of course", Kisame said. To Itachi's surprise, he then addressed the blond who was walking behind them in silence.

"Oi, kiddo. You wanna come as well?"

The shy boy lifted his head and gave Kisame an anxious look.

"You", Kisame repeated, drawling every word, "and us – this afternoon – swimming?" He moved his arms as if swimming to make clear what he meant. The blond pressed his books against his chest, as if Kisame had threatened him.

"You know what swimming is?", Kisame asked impatiently.

"He isn't stupid", Itachi hissed. He was happy that Kisame had asked him, but he didn't like the way he was talking to the boy.

"Just ignore that blue brat", Itachi smirked, "do you want to come with us?"

The blond shook his head, slowly but firmly.

"Suit yourself", Kisame shrugged, "I didn't think you would say yes, anyway."

When Itachi came home, his mother was hanging out the laundry. The boy had been living in the village forever and knew almost every street here, so he didn't have to be picked up after school by her. He gave her a shy smile and sat on the stairs.

"How was your day?", Mikoto asked.

"Okay." He picked up a small stone from the ground and watched it, as if it was something special.

Mikoto smiled. She knew when her son had something on his mind, but she wouldn't ask but just wait until he came out with it.

"May I go swimming with Kisame today?", he finally asked. Ah, so that was what he had been thinking about.

"You may", Mikoto said. She had already accepted that this blue-skinned boy would be around her son more frequently from now on, even if she didn't appreciate it.

Itachi looked up at her joyfully. "Thank you, Mama", he smiled.

"But", Mikoto continued, "you'll have to take Sasuke with you."

Itachi's face froze. "Sasuke?", he stumbled.

"I'll go help your father at the office later", his mother explained, "and I don't want your brother to stay here alone. He won't bother you two."

"No", Itachi agreed, "but…"

The black haired woman turned around and sat down next to her son, who looked guilty. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tenderly.

"Don't worry about yesterday too much", she said, "Sasuke was just scared. He doesn't hate you, and neither do we."

When she wanted to go back to her work, Itachi clung to her, restraining her from getting up.

"Huh?" Mikoto ran her hand through her son's raven hair and tilted his head up, to see that his dark eyes were full of tears. He must be feeling really guilty.

"A future ninja like you shouldn't be crying", she said and wiped his tears away, "all of us make mistakes from time to time. Now go and have fun with your friend."

But Itachi wasn't crying because he felt guilty. The tears he shed were tears of joy. Because he had been forgiven.

"This is going to hurt", a young woman exclaimed before pressing her hands down onto her opponent's back sharply. A cracking noise could be heard throughout the room.

"Gross", Kakashi exclaimed and looked up from his book, "don't kill him, Tsunade."

The blond kunoichi didn't pay any attention to her colleague but pushed her hands down on her victim a second time.

"Jeez, you're tensed up", she sighed.

"I know", the guy underneath her groaned, "that's why I'm here."

He writhed in pain when Tsunade put pressure onto his spine again, but then sighed with relief when he felt every bone was adjusted in its right position again.

"Thank you", he said, "feels so much better now."

"You really have to take care of yourself, Sasori-sama", Tsunade frowned.

"It's not that bad", her red haired patient said and stretched his limbs.

"Yes, it is", the blond woman replied, tapping her foot, "you shouldn't strain yourself."

"Yeah", Sasori huffed with an angry look on his face while he put his shirt back on, "that's why I'm working as a teacher and don't go on missions anymore."

He clenched his teeth. What a pathetic figure he had become. He had always wanted to be a soldier, he had wanted to be on missions all his life, fighting in battles up to his death. But now he needed to see a medic already on his second working day. If he hadn't come to Tsunade's office in time, he would have become unable to move within the next hours. And all because of that little silver haired brat.

"Make sure you see me whenever you need my help", Tsunade said.

"Thanks, I will", Sasori said with a wry smile before he closed the door behind him.

Tsunade sighed and massaged her fingers after her patient had left.

"That was odd", Kakashi said. He had never watched a chiropractor at work before.

"He's in bad shape", Tsunade frowned thoughtfully.

Kakashi gave her a quizzical look. He had known the blond woman for a few years, but he had never seen her so worried.

"Is he ill?", the gray haired asked.

"I don't know yet", Tsunade shrugged, "but he was in severe pain when he came here. I wonder how he was able to walk upright, after all."

"Oi, brat, you wanna sit there all day?"

Kisame was splashing about in the water near the shore.

"Why don't you come in?", he yelled at the black haired boy who was sitting on a bath towel in the shade of a tree.

"Leave him alone", said Itachi, who had just come up to the surface as well.

"You will get a sunstroke if you don't cool down", Kisame called out and swam across the shore. He didn't really care about Itachi's brother, but as he had to spend the day with the little one, he at least wanted to have some fun with him. He got out of the water and walked over to Sasuke, who gave an anxious look at him.

"Why don't you come in, kid?", Kisame asked him and shook his head.

"I don't know how to swim", Sasuke mumbled.

"Huh?", Kisame asked and bent down, cold water drops dripping onto the black haired boy's head, "I can't hear you."

"I don't know how to swim!", Sasuke squeaked, clenching his fists against the blue-skinned boy in front of him.

"Say what?", Kisame asked with surprise, then smirked. "I can teach you."

Sasuke was frightened, but he tried not to let show.

"I don't want to learn it", he said bravely.

"Come on, you scaredy cat, it's easy", Kisame said, "you'll love it."

He grabbed the arm of the little one and pulled him along. The black haired shrieked and tried to break free, his eyes widened with fear. Kisame chuckled. In his imagination, he could already hear the scream Sasuke would utter when thrown into the cold water. Little brothers could be fun, after all.

When Itachi saw Kisame drag his little brother towards the shore, he nearly jumped out of the water. Blind with rage, he tackled his friend roughly, causing him to let go of Sasuke, who fell down on the ground. Although Kisame was taller than him by a head, Itachi pinned him against the tree.

"If you put a single scratch on him, I'll kill you", he huffed at his mate.

Kisame could have broken free easily, but he was frozen by the sight of two angry red eyes glaring at him. It was the second time he saw his friend's sharingan, and the look of it made cold shivers run down his spine.

"I'm sorry", the blue-skinned boy whispered, not daring to make one single move.

Itachi frowned. He had never seen such an anxious expression on his friend's face before. Was he frightened of him? The young Uchiha smirked. He liked the feeling of scaring somebody. It felt good. Strange, but good.

Two hot hands clasping his left leg brought Itachi back to reality. He let go of Kisame, who slumped down on the ground, and kneeled down to his brother in order to pick him up. Sasuke shyly snuggled against his chest.

"Man, that was creepy", Kisame said and tried to regain his feet, "for a moment I really thought you would kill me."

"If you scare my brother ever again, I do", Itachi said. He meant it. He had almost lost his brother one day ago. From now on, he would keep his eyes glued to him.

"Yeah, I got it", Kisame grunted. He ran towards the shore and dived into the water with a splash.

"Thank you, neesan", Sasuke smiled and gave his bigger brother a little kiss on the cheek, "you're cool."

"Nah", Itachi answered, blushing.

"Of course you are", Sasuke affirmed, his big dark eyes sparkling with excitement, "you scared that blue boy away from me."

Itachi hugged his brother. He turned around and let his eyes wander across the surface of the water, but Kisame wasn't there.

"Has he drowned, neesan?", Sasuke asked.

Itachi laughed. "No", he said, "Kisame-san is good at swimming and diving. He can hold his breath for several minutes, you know?"

"I see", Sasuke said. A few beads of sweat were trickling down his temples and dripping onto Itachi's arms.

"You're hot, aren't you?", the Uchiha asked his younger brother, "Don't you want to cool down a bit?"

"No!", Sasuke called out, "I don't want to!"

"Come on", Itachi tried to calm him down, "I keep my eyes on you."

He started to walk towards the shore and into the water, holding his sibling in his arms tightly. When the water reached Sasuke's feet, he shrieked and tightened his grip around Itachi's neck.

"Neesan", he whined, "I'm scared! You know I can't swim!"

"The water is shallow here", Itachi said, "you can still see the ground."

"Please don't let go of me", Sasuke begged.

"I won't let go of you", Itachi said, "I promise."

He made a few more steps until the water reached his and Sasuke's waist.

"It's cold", the smaller Uchiha whined.

"You'll get used to it within a few seconds, and then it will feel good", Itachi said.

Right at that moment, a blue figure appeared from under water, gasping for air.

"He he, you're finally in", Kisame chuckled as he saw Itachi's brother, "I told you you would like it."

Sasuke gave him a shy smile. It wasn't as bad as he had thought, after all. But he was glad he hadn't been thrown in by the blue boy.

"You wanna learn how to swim, eh?", Kisame asked, paddling around the Uchiha siblings, "I can teach you."

"I want my neesan to teach me", Sasuke mumbled. He didn't trust that weird boy.

"Awww", Kisame squealed, pretending to feel sore, "honestly! Your neesan is a bad swimmer. I'm a much better teacher than him."

Itachi giggled. He wasn't angry with Kisame anymore. His friend was right, he was a much better swimmer than him. Actually, the blue-skinned boy would beat anyone when it came to swimming, even adults were unable to hold a candle to him. Maybe that was the reason his parents had named him after a sea animal.

Sasuke was shaking his head furiously.

"I guess there's no way you can persuade him, Same-san", Itachi said.

"Too bad", Kisame sighed, then frowned, "Same-san?"

Itachi didn't dwell on the new nickname. "I have an idea", he said, "we could swim across to the isle, you and me and Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke froze. "But…", he started, but was interrupted by his brother again.

"You on my back", Itachi smiled at him, "how about that?"

The smaller Uchiha wasn't sure.

"What if I go down?"

"You won't go down", Itachi promised, "my head is out of the water, and so is yours."

"And what if I slip off?"

Itachi sighed. "You're always on Mama's back", he said.

"Yes."

"You're up there for hours when she goes shopping, aren't you?"

"I am."

"And even when she travels in the treetops, right?"

"Right."

"So, did you ever slip off her back?"

"No."

"See. Then you won't slip off mine."

Sasuke blinked. "But, we're in the water", he said, "it's all wet and slippery."

"Oh, come on, you scaredy cat", Kisame yelled, "let's go already. If you or your brother goes down, I'll rescue the both of you."

Sasuke looked at the blue boy, then at his brother. He remembered what he had said earlier. If Kisame put a single scratch on him, Itachi would kill him. The younger Uchiha took in a deep breath and decided to be brave. His brother had saved him once, he was sure he wouldn't let him down now.

"Okay", he whispered.

Itachi gave his sibling a look of approval, then put him down. Sasuke kept clutching his brother's arm. He was still a bit scared, as the water almost reached his chest now, and his heart was racing, but he didn't change his mind. Riding on his mother's back wasn't bad at all, it was rather comfortable and relaxing, so he guessed riding on Itachi's back in the water wouldn't be bad, either.

The older Uchiha turned around and crouched down, so both of them were on the same level. Suddenly Sasuke felt two rough hands grab him and push him forward. He wanted to scream at first, but then he realized Kisame wasn't ducking him but helping him to get up Itachi's back. The small black haired boy wrapped his arms and legs around his brother's body tightly.

"There you go", the blue-skinned boy grinned, exposing his terrifying, spiky teeth. Itachi was right, he did look a bit like a shark. Within a moment he had dived into the water and come up again a few meters apart.

Itachi pushed off the ground and splashed into the water as well. His brother's body was light and easy to carry in the water. If he didn't grip his neck so firmly, Itachi wouldn't even notice he was on his back.

As expected, Sasuke didn't slip off. They reached the isle a few minutes after Kisame, who was able to swim nearly twice as fast as Itachi. All three of them were dozing in the grass for a while before they headed back. Itachi helped his brother to towel himself and get dressed, then gave him a piggy-back again.

It was already dark when they reached their house. Fugaku heaved a sigh of relief when he saw both his sons arrive together. At last their relationship hadn't worsened.

When Itachi left the bathroom after taking a shower, he was glad to see that Sasuke was lying in his bed, the king-size mattress they used to share for about three years. He knew that he wouldn't be sleeping next to his brother all his life, but right now he was very happy to have him there. He quickly slipped into his clothes and under the covers.

Sasuke was almost sleeping when he wrapped his arm around his waist. He snuggled up to him and sniffed his hair, breathing in that familiar, sweet smell he had missed so much the other night.

"Are you still awake?", Itachi whispered into his ear.

"Hmm", Sasuke sighed, "yes…"

"Did you enjoy the day?", the older brother continued.

"Hmm…" The smaller Uchiha couldn't manage to open his eyes again.

Itachi smiled and nestled his head on his pillow. "That's a yes, I suppose."


	10. part 10: the gifted

The next morning Itachi was in an excellent mood. He was even humming a joyful tune when he was walking across the academy ground, which occurred very rarely. Kisame was already waiting for him, standing next to the tree which had become kind of their meeting point. It was the tree Hidan had been leaning against when they first met him. But now the silver haired wasn't there, just a impatient Kisame was jumping up and down.

"Man, I got a sunburn", he whined when Itachi had come near enough to hear it.

"I told you to sit in the shade when we were on the isle yesterday", Itachi shrugged, "but you wouldn't listen to me."

"Yeah", Kisame grunted. It was annoying that his black haired friend was always right. He wondered if there was anything Itachi wasn't good at, but he couldn't think of anything. He always knew what to do, he always knew what to say, and he was pretty strong, too, as Kisame had discovered yesterday. He still felt frightened when he thought about those angry red eyes that had stared at him. Kisame really didn't want to be Itachi's opponent one day.

"How's your little brother?", the blue-skinned boy asked to get rid of those thoughts.

"Well", Itachi said, "he just spilled his milk this morning and got all furious about it, but apart from that, he's fine."

"Hm", Kisame replied, not really listening. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pretend he was interested. Little kids like Sasuke were crying and yelling and asking questions all the time, and most of them were afraid of him, anyway, so he didn't care much about them.

Suddenly, the boy heard a whisper, startling him out of his thoughts. He turned his head in order to see where it came from.

"Shush, they're talking", another whisper could be heard from above.

"Oi, Hidan, is that you?", Kisame asked, but then rejected his suggestion. Hidan would have come running towards them, and he wouldn't have given a damn whether he and Itachi were talking or not. The young Uchiha had heard it as well and let his eyes wander across the green treetop.

"Oi", Kisame shouted, "we already noticed you, you don't have to hide up there."

"Oh", a chuckle came from above, "I guess I was too noisy, then."

Itachi froze. He had heard this voice before.

Leaves rustled and a small figure appeared, quickly jumping down in a graceful movement. A slim frame wearing a black coat landed on the ground, his head covered with an equally black hood. When he finally straightened himself and lifted his head, two familiar eyes were looking at Itachi.

"Found you again", he smiled.

Itachi gave a puzzled look at the boy who had appeared in front of him. He wasn't scared, but yet a bit shocked by the looks of his counterpart. Kisame was an eye-catching individual with his blue skin, and Hidan's hair and eye color wasn't normal, either, but the kid in front of Itachi was stranger than both of his friends together.

"I'm Zetsu", he introduced himself and bowed his head. Even though the dark hood and the popped collar covered parts of his face, there was no doubt about it – his skin was two-colored, the left side white and the right one black.

"Eh, another freak", Kisame snarled.

The new arrival turned his head quickly. "Shut up", he growled.

Kisame smirked at the yellow eyes that were glaring at him. _Yellow eyes_… Was this the boy Itachi had told him about?

"Be nice", Zetsu then mumbled as if speaking to himself, then smiled at Itachi again.

"You are the guy from the woods", the black haired said with a quizzical look on his face.

Zetsu nodded, causing some strands of frizzy green hair fall from underneath his hood and across his face.

"Where's your mate?", Itachi asked without introducing himself first, completely forgetting his manners.

"Mate?", Zetsu frowned.

"You were talking to someone when I met you", Itachi explained, "someone who threatened to attack me."

"Was that so", Zetsu mumbled, averting his eyes.

"Why are you wearing such strange clothes?", Kisame interrupted and stretched out his hand, "What are you hiding, eh?"

When he tried to pull Zetsu's hood off, the yellow eyed boy suddenly jumped up and onto a branch of the tree behind him. He had moved there without even looking. Kisame was amazed.

"Eh, how did you do that?", he asked. He would have never been able to jump that high, on top of that _backwards_.

Zetsu smiled at him from above. "I can teach you."

"So he's trying to make friends again", Tsunade mumbled quietly, buried in thought, when Sasori opened the door of her office. The blond woman was standing with her back to him, looking out of the window. Startled by the sound of the door Sasori had closed behind him, she turned around.

"Oh, it's you again, Sasori-sama", Tsunade said with a smile, then frowned, "your back again?"

"No, no, it's fine again", the red head replied quickly and walked over to his colleague, "thanks to you."

"Glad to hear", Tsunade said, "why are you here, then?"

Sasori sighed. "I wanted to apologize", he said.

Tsunade lifted an eyebrow. "Apologize?", she asked.

"Yes", Sasori continued, "because I was pretty rude yesterday."

Tsunade tried to remember what had happened the day before.

"I interrupted your conversation", Sasori explained before she could think about it, "I'm sorry for that."

The red haired teacher hadn't intended to disturb them, but his back had been aching so bad he couldn't wait any longer. He wouldn't tell that to Tsunade, though.

"Ah, never mind", she said now, "we were finished, anyway. And Kakashi's always happy if he finds the time to read his trashy novel, so I think he didn't mind."

Sasori almost heaved a sigh of relief. At least she hadn't noticed how painful he really had been when he had come here yesterday.

Tsunade turned her head back to watch the scene outside and Sasori followed her look. On the yard there were a lot of students running around and playing together. There was some time left until the lessons would start, and the children were enjoying every single minute of it.

"Who's that boy?", Sasori asked and pointed at a child he had never seen before. It was obvious that Tsunade was watching him, and he didn't know him yet, so he was curious.

"Ah, that's funny", she said, "I wanted to talk to you about him, anyway."

"You did?", Sasori asked.

"Yes", Tsunade replied and walked over to her desk, sitting down, "there are a few things you need to know about him. I have to inform every teacher new to the academy about him. That's why Kakashi was here yesterday, by the way."

Now Sasori was really curious. Something every teacher needed to know? _Very interesting_. He sat down opposite Tsunade, giving her a quizzical look. The blonde woman took in a deep breath before she continued.

"His name is Zetsu", she started, "and he's considered very dangerous."

"Dangerous?", Sasori laughed. He couldn't believe an experienced kunoichi like Tsunade considered a child in his first academy year dangerous.

"Maybe not for us", she continued, "but for other children."

Sasori snorted. A lot of students were dangerous for other children. Hidan, for example, if he didn't learn to keep his temper.

Tsunade sighed. "You are able to sense other people's chakra, aren't you?", she asked the red head in front of her.

"Yes", he answered.

"So am I", the woman said, "and a lot of other teachers, too. Well, what if I told you we detected two separate flows of chakra in Zetsu's body?"

"That's not possible", Sasori called out, "nobody has two."

Well, there was one possibility known to him, actually. Jinchuuriki, people with sealed demons inside their bodies, had two different chakra types: on the one hand their own and on the other hand the one of the demon. But if Zetsu had been one, Sasori would already have heard of him.

"He has", Tsunade said, "and they're clearly separated from each other. One of them is in the right part of his body and the other one in the left part, and they're flowing in different directions, to be more precise, upside down to each other."

The male teacher frowned. He had never heard of anything like this before, but it was very interesting.

"That's odd", he said, "and do you have any explanation for that?"

"Yes", Tsunade responded, "we have."

"Hidan!", a soft call could be heard from somewhere far away. The sound made its way throughout the house, but was unheard by the silver haired boy addressed by it. His eyes were closed shut and he was breathing evenly, a slight snore escaping his half-opened mouth with every breath.

"Hidaaan!", a more forceful call was uttered, this time reaching his ears and startling him out of his sleep. The snoring stopped as he closed his mouth, running his tongue across his dry lips. He forced his eyes open and became aware of a cracked ceiling, a dark wooden wardrobe, some blankets. So he was in his room, after all. Hidan rubbed his eyes and stretched his limbs, but then stopped moving again. His body felt numb. There was no way he would get up, tired to death like this.

"Hiiidaaan!", the voice he had heard before called out his name again. To be more precise, it was a yell, pretty close now and sounding rather impatient. Angry footsteps could also be heard. Someone was going up the stairs. Hidan grunted and rolled over onto his left side, curling up into a ball and pulling his covers up to his nose. Suddenly the door of Hidan's room was slammed open.

"For the love of Jashin-sama, I can't believe you're still in bed!"

A young woman with dark hair and furiously sparkling eyes had entered and was now tapping her foot impatiently. "Do you know what time it is?", she asked.

Hidan bent his head. A frustrated moan escaped his throat when he had read the clock. Damnit, he had overslept again.

"Come on, move your ass already", the woman huffed. The next moment, Hidan's blankets were grabbed and pulled off his body in a sudden movement. He shrieked when he felt the cool air hit his skin, desperately reaching for the blankets.

"Fuck, give them back", he whined, "I'm freezing!"

"Serves you right", the woman said with a sardonic laugh, "if you insist on sleeping naked."

Hidan clenched his teeth. He wasn't naked. He just didn't like shirts very much. There was no need to wear one at night, as he usually had plenty of blankets to warm himself at night.

"Hurry", the woman huffed and left the room, taking his covers with her.

Hidan was on the verge of tears when he jumped out of the bed. He didn't mind if somebody swore at him, or if he got beaten up by his schoolmates, but he hated being cold, and she knew it. He wasn't used to get up that early, and especially when he had gone to bed late at night like yesterday, he could barely open his eyes. Hidan opened the door of his wardrobe with a jerk and shuffled on the first shirt he could get hold of. He clenched his teeth when he felt the cold cloth on his body, but then started slowly to feel comfortable. The boy dressed further in a hurry. He had already missed first period. It wasn't that he didn't like school, he was actually very keen on going there, but he couldn't manage to get there on time.

His housemates weren't much help. The dark haired woman who had stolen his blankets some minutes ago was the only one who would look after him. The other ones would rather get in the way and slow him down, even if it had been their idea to send him to the academy. Hidan was the youngest person living in this house, and he was the favorite target of the others. He didn't mind the teasing and swearing, as he used to tease and swear at others as well, but sometimes he wasn't in the mood, just like now.

The boy ran his fingers through his silver hair, trying to brush some strands out of his face. Even if the color of his hair implied that it was thick, it was actually rather soft and fluffy and always fell over his face when it was windy, so he used to back-comb it carefully every day before he left the house, no matter how late he was.

"Hiiidaaan!", the annoying voice could be heard again, "You on the move already?"

"Yes, for Jashin's sake!", the boy yelled and averted his eyes from his mirror. He grabbed his bag and rushed downstairs, quickly slipping out of the house before someone else could see him.

Tsunade had gotten up again and was staring out of the window. She couldn't stop watching the three students outside.

"Zetsu is an orphan", she started to explain, "he has been living here for several years. We found him in the woods at the age of two, hypothermic and almost starved to death. We tried to find out who he was and why he was there all alone, but we couldn't find any hint about his parents or other relatives."

"Oh my", Sasori sighed, "poor thing." It happened all the time that children lost their parents in wars, and then wandered around on their own. Unfortunately, most of them died, especially if they were as young as Zetsu had been. He must have been really lucky. However, Sasori felt pity for him. He knew what it felt like to lose one's parents.

"But being an orphan doesn't explain why he has two separate flows of chakra", Sasori said, still curious.

"No", Tsunade agreed, "the reason for that is that he's schizophrenic."

Sasori pricked his ears. "Eh?"

"We figured that out very early", Tsunade continued, "when we found him, he was rather apathetic, but a few weeks later he would start to talk to himself. Well, not to himself, actually…"

She frowned.

"It was more as if two different people were talking to each other. Two different people with two different voices – and two different flows of chakra."

"I see", Sasori mumbled, completely astounded.

"So", Tsunade said and turned around quickly, "what we have here is two different personalities in one body. Each of them has their own chakra pathways, abilities and habits, and they're obviously opposed to each other. That can be seen by the chakra flows, which are sharply separated from each other and don't mix at any spot, as well as by his skin, which is two-colored, black and white."

"I guess that's also what his personalities are like?", Sasori asked, "Black and white? Dark and light, like… evil and good?"

Tsunade turned her head and gave the red head a surprised look. "Exactly", she nodded, "and one of them is really dangerous. When the dark side is in control, he would attack people randomly, without distinguishing between friend and foe. The light side is rather charming, though." She sighed and eyed the boy outside again.

"He's been alone all his life", she said with a pitiful voice, "He tried to make contact with other children sometimes, but always failed. He's considered antisocial."

"But being antisocial doesn't make him dangerous", Sasori said.

"He is!", Tsunade called out, angrily slamming her hands on her desk, "Believe me, he is. When he realized he wasn't able to make friends, he started to keep himself busy with training. He is rather ambitious, so he learnt how to control his chakra and use weapons in no time. His abilities are amazing, but it's no fun at all when his evil side is in control of them."

The blond woman almost whispered when she continued. "He keeps sneaking out of the orphanage at night. He is under medication, but… it seems as if his dark side was in control during the night, after all."

Sasori stared at Tsunade. She looked worried and angry, so she must be serious about this. The red head wasn't able to say anything. But one thing was certain. This village was full of freaks.


End file.
